Maputo — The three leaders of Zimbabwe's "inclusive government" have arrived in Maputo to take part in a summit of the SADC (Southern African Development Community) troika on politics, defence and security cooperation, aimed at solving the current Zimbabwean crisis.

The leader of Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF, President Robert Mugabe, arrived on Thursday morning, while the leaders of the two factions of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, have been in the Mozambican capital since Wednesday night.

The SADC Executive Secretary, Tomas Salomao, told AIM that Thursday morning is reserved for consultations between the Zimbabwean leaders. The summit itself will take place in the afternoon, chaired by Mozambican President Armando Guebuza, who is the current head of the troika. A final statement from the summit is not expected until the late evening.

The latest Zimbabwean crisis arises from the MDC's accusations that Mugabe has failed to implement key parts of the General Political Agreement (GPA) that he signed with Tsvangirai and Mutambara in September 2008.

The MDC pointes to Mugabe's unilateral re-appointment of Gideon Gono as governor of the central bank, and of Johannes Tomana as Attorney-General, and the failure to appoint the new provincial governors, several of whom should be MDC nominees.

The latest blow to the unity government was the rearrest of MDC treasurer, Roy Bennet, who is also the MDC's nominee for Deputy Agricultural Minister, on treason charges. Faced with this situation, Tsvangirai opted for a strategy of temporary "disengagement" from the government.

He and the MDC ministers have not been attending the Cabinet meetings called by Mugabe. But Tsvangirai insists that he has not resigned and is interested in making the unity government work.

Salomao told a Wednesday press conference that all three Zimbabwean parties remain committed to a functioning "inclusive government".