At its March 31st meeting in Livingstone, Zambia, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Troika on State Security-comprising the governments of Zambia, Mozambique and South Africa-came out strongly against Mr Mugabe, telling the president to end his clampdown on human-rights groups and the political opposition. Some reports suggest that, informally, he was advised to retire, and that his general state of health was poor. Again, however, it remains to be seen whether this is anything more than wishful thinking by independent journalists or even SADC governments. However, the SADC statement is unlikely to have much, if any, impact unless the governments are prepared to back up words with actions-and there has been no sign of that.