• Informed by the principles of the Harare Declaration, lay down explicit and concise benchmarks for the re-admittance of Zimbabwe to the rallying the Commonwealth; • Constitute an “eminent persons” group capable of Commonwealth around a common position on Zimbabwe, both with respect to the benchmarks and as concerns the mode of re-engagement with the Zimbabwe government; • Launch a sustained lobbying process by the Commonwealth at all relevant international bodies – the UN, the AU and SADC – to demand a return to democracy, human rights, and the rule of law by the Zimbabwe government; • Noting South Africa’s particularly strategic influence on Zimbabwe, including within SADC and the AU, and recalling the Commonwealth’s constructive role during the Apartheid era in promoting change in South Africa and its re-admittance to the Commonwealth, underpin the South African government’s promotion of dialogue with the Zimbabwe government and MDC opposition whilst simultaneously engaging with the South African government to develop a comprehensive and sound policy for Zimbabwe asylum seekers in South Africa. With regard to these proposals, mention need be made of events within SADC since March 11, 2007. On that date several MDC members, including the leadership and Presidents of both factions, were detained by the Zimbabwean Republican Police during an operation to prevent a large rally - held as a prayer meeting - from taking place. A few days later pictures broadcast internationally revealing their injuries, sustained as a result of brutal treatment while in police custody, caused indignation around the world, and reportedly some disquiet behind the closed doors of SADC. Impervious to these international protests, as President Mugabe left for a meeting of SADC two weeks later on March 28, 2007 the police and CIO operatives from the President’s office launched a raid on Harvest House (the building housing the MDC head office and several other small enterprises). They arrested all in the building and proximity. After beating and releasing some of those arrested, the police then systematically tortured 17 senior members and employees of the MDC over a two day period. The mandate of the police appeared to be to create a link between the arrestees and several petrol bomb attacks that had taken place in the preceding few days around Zimbabwe, to pursue charges of terrorism against them, and preferably to extract confessions from them. Accordingly, at the time President Mugabe was facing his peers at the SADC meeting and anticipating some criticism arising from the events of March 11, the Zimbabwean government controlled press gave headline prominence to the fact that senior MDC figures had been 21