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The United States is "thrilled" by the latest initiative by South Africa, Malawi and Nigeria to resolve the political standoff in Zimbabwe, US assistant secretary for African Affairs William Kansteiner III said on Thursday.

Speaking in Gaborone, Kansteiner said that as he moved around southern Africa on a mission to develop US-Africa trade relations, was doing what he could to assess what was happening in Zimbabwe.

Kansteiner was commenting on a series of meetings in Harare earlier this week between the presidents of South Africa, Malawi and Nigeria and Zimbabwean government and opposition figures.

"Zimbabwe remains an issue for the southern Africa region but I am getting a read-out on what the regional leaders think of the situation there," he said.

"We are thrilled that the three presidents have engaged Mugabe and are encouraged by their efforts".

Kansteiner denied suggestions that in the wake of the implementation of the US African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), the US had elected to negotiate a free trade agreement with the members of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), which did not include Zimbabwe, rather than the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which did.

"The free trade negotiations are time-consuming. SACU is easier to negotiate with in terms of its size, SADC will be next," Kansteiner said. "This is not to sideline Zimbabwe".

AGOA had been the first step in developing US-Africa trade relations, the free trade agreements would lengthen the time line for co-operation and broaden the scope of trade.

SACU has five members; Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Swaziland and Lesotho. SADC has 14 members.

Kansteiner said the US had concerns about democracy in Swaziland, seat of Africa's last absolute monarch, King Mswati III. "We are working with Swaziland civil society and the government to see how we can deepen the institutions of democracy in that country. We want to see what a constitutional monarchy could look like".

On Thursday in Gaborone, Kansteiner officially opened the Southern Africa Global Competitiveness Hub, one of three offices set up by the US in Africa to complement the initiative of AGOA. The others are in Ghana and Kenya.

Described by US President George Bush as "regional hubs for global competitiveness", the three are part of the Trade for African Development and Enterprise Programme.

Bush in January announced the opening of the offices, which he said would facilitate the growth of exports by African businesses and was working towards a free trade agreement with the member states of SACU.

"Negotiations with SACU will be complex and costly," he said. "To speed them up, the US will provide technical assistance to members of SACU".

Before he leaves Botswana on Friday, Kansteiner is scheduled to meet with President Festus Mogae, Health Minister Joy Phumaphi, Trade and Industry Minister Jacob Nkate, the executive secretary of SADC Prega Ramsamy and managing director of diamond company Debswana, Louis Nchindo.

The 14 member states of SADC are: Angola, Botswana, Democratic Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. – Sapa.

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