President Ian Khama leaves for Washington today to attend the Conservation International board of directors meeting. While in the US, Khama will meet with President Barack Obama on Thursday.

Minster for Foreign Affairs, Phandu Skelemani, could not disclose what is on the agenda for the meeting of the two leaders. "The meeting has no agenda as such. The two presidents will meet and we will put forward the challenges facing our country that we think Americans could help us address," Skelemani said.

He did not rule out the possibility of Khama and Obama discussing the political crisis in Zimbabwe. He said the matter might be mentioned in passing, as the whole region is waiting for the report of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Troika that is currently assessing the situation in Zimbabwe. He said that all they can do is to share their experiences on Zimbabwe with Americans and solicit advice.

Skelemani said it would be unprofessional for Botswana to rush to take the Zimbabwe matter to the US when the SADC Treaty has laid down what procedures should be followed. Mozambique will host a regional summit on Zimbabwe on Thursday in the hope of breaking a deadlock that threatens the fragile unity government. Mozambique currently heads SADC's security organ, which sent a delegation to Harare last week to mediate between President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, the former opposition leader who joined the government in February.

The government of Botswana issued a statement last week condemning what is happening in Zimbabwe's unity government. Mugabe and Tsvangirai have disagreed on the allocation of positions in government. This has led to Tsvangirai pulling out MDC from the unity government, further dampening hopes that the country will be back on its feet in the near future.

Meanwhile, Khama will miss a SADC meeting to discuss Zimbabwe for the second year running. At almost the same time last year, did not attend an extraordinary SADC Summit on Zimbabwe held in South Africa.

By Mmegi Online