VICTORIA FALLS, Zimbabwe (AFP) — Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe as the new chair of Africa’s largest trade bloc Sunday called on its members to act against the “cancer” of conflict on the continent.

“You certainly agree with me that conflict is a serious cancer in our region and indeed many parts of Africa,” Mugabe said at a two-day summit of the 19 member Common Market for Eastern Southern Africa (COMESA).

“Strife has made us lose valuable manpower through death and displacement of people,” said Mugabe to an audience that included Sudan’s President Omar al-Beshir who faces an international arrest warrant for war crimes in Darfur.

“It has also adversely affected our economies in regard to productivity and prosperity,” he said.

The 85-year-old called for action against ongoing conflicts after taking over the COMESA chair as his own country seeks to emerge from economic meltdown, and political turmoil stemming from disputed elections.

“Let us seriously get down and adopt effective strategies to ameliorate them. Let us make Africa a continent of opportunity for all its people by eliminating conflict,” he said.

African Union deputy chairperson Erastus Mwencha said Somalia remained “extremely worrisome” and that other countries were also embroiled in conflicts.

“It is therefore imperative that we strive to promote peace, security and stability in the continent as a prerequisite to accelerating economic and social development,” he said.

The COMESA region still has to overcome a series of conflicts and internal tensions with Sudan still in a civil war, while in Madagascar its elected leader Marc Ravalomanana — who is at the summit — was toppled in March.

The COMESA region is home to 400 million people, with a combined gross domestic product of 360 billion dollars.

COMESA member states are meeting in the Zimbabwe’s resort town of Victoria Falls to launch a customs union that will impose the same tariffs on goods from outside the region.

Raw materials and capital goods will travel across borders without tariffs, while intermediate products will be taxed at 10 percent and finished goods at 25 percent.

Most countries have also lifted visa restrictions on travel within the bloc.

COMESA comprises Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

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