Mauritius will soon be hosting the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) conference. This high-level summit will provide the opportunity for SADC members to harmonise policies on a broad range of subjects, such as crime, immigration and AIDS. The latter has struck sub-Saharan Africa with such savage swiftness that one could be forgiven for thinking that the disease had been specially designed for the region.

Such is the magnitude of the epidemic that we have come to consider it as a ?fait accompli?, a pitfall inherent to life in Africa. At least one doesn?t have the time or luxury to get bored. Staying alive is incredibly time- and energy-consuming.

This same lassitude can be extended to poverty, war and malaria. The fact that HIV-AIDS ranks a mediocre third on the hit parade of African killers gives a glimpse of the obstacles that the continent has to overcome if it is to emerge from decades of misery and suffering.

Add to this the propensity of powerful interests to utilise Africa as the theatre of their struggles to secure precious minerals and one is left with an overwhelming sense of gloom. This was illustrated in a recent UN report, which stated war as the primary hindrance to development in Africa. Humankind has demonstrated cruel zeal in its wanton destruction and degradation of the continent that gave birth to it. It must be something Freudian.

Mauritius? response to HIV-AIDS has been, if not beyond reproach, one of the most coherent and accessible. War is unknown to us and malaria inexistent. The same can be said for the respect of basic freedoms and rights that we enjoy daily. The only other country in the region that can boast of over three decades of genuine democracy is Botswana. Is it a coincidence that two of Africa?s tiniest swathes of land are also its most stable? Probably not.

We will soon be welcoming Zimbabwe president, Robert Mugabe. Good old Bob! It?s been a while since the last time we had an original African despot on our soil. Rarely in recent history has Louis IV?s, ?L?État c?est moi?, so appropriately fitted one man. The numbers speak for themselves. Three million Zimbabweans have taken refuge in South Africa, one million in the UK and 500 000 in Botswana. Zimbabwe?s a beautiful country so it wasn?t for a change of scenery that over three and half million people decided to pack their belongings and migrate.

If Mauritius wasn?t so far away and the price of plane tickets so prohibitive, we would probably also be the recipient of a flood of Zimbabwean refugees fleeing oppression and starvation. An estimated three million Zimbabweans rely on food aid for survival. That number could escalate to five million in the near future. Wild animals, like elephants, are being slaughtered for food and there are not even enough of those to go round. Only a decade ago, Zimbabwe was known as the ?Breadbasket of Africa?. Such reversals of fortune are usually reserved for Greek tragedies and, chances are, even Sophocles would have been hard-pressed to come up with such a dénouement.

The SADC conference will be a wonderful opportunity for the region?s leaders to give Bob a good talking to. The conference being reserved for Heads of State, Zimbabwe?s opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which is currently on a mission in Mauritius to raise awareness, won?t be allowed to make official representations. It will be lobbying hard, though. Not for anything drastic, mind you. All it is asking for is that next year?s elections be ?free and fair? and that the people of Zimbabwe be allowed to choose their next leader. Given Mugabe?s recent track record, he?s understandably not too keen on offering them that opportunity. Wouldn?t it be nice if, amidst all the diplomatic pomp, a few leaders got up and asked Bob what the hell he is doing! Africa is beset with ills but the plight of the Zimbabwean population is one that Africa itself has the capacity to alleviate.