ZIMBABWE -TSVANGIRAI TO BE NAMED PM
Sep 14th, 2008 by admin
Zimbabwe’s opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai may be named the prime minister of the country, while President Robert Mugabe maintains his position ceremonially according to a power sharing deal reached yesterday.
Tsvangirai came out from a long peace meeting mediated by South African President Thabo Mbeki to declare that there was finally a deal on power-sharing in the crisis-hit country.
However, the exact composition of the new government was still being worked out, but Tsvangirai had maintained that the opposition should be allowed an upper hand by holding the executive power which includes the appointment of ministers.
“We’ve got a deal,” the leader of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party told journalists.
South African President Thabo Mbeki, who is trying to mediate an end to Zimbabwe’s long-running political crisis, “is going to issue a statement,” Tsvangirai said, without giving details.
Mbeki’s spokesman, Mukoni Ratshitanga, told journalists the president was to make a broadcast on the outcome of the four-day meeting between Mugabe and MDC leaders.
Accordingly, Mbeki announced later that he had successfully mediated a power-sharing deal between Zimbabwean Mugabe and the opposition.
He did not offer details, but said that the agreement would be signed next Monday.
The power sharing talks have long been deadlocked over the allocation of executive power between President Mugabe and Tsvangirai. Mugabe won a controversial June presidential runoff unopposed after Tsvangirai withdrew, citing state-sponsored violence against his supporters which killed more than 100 civilians. Tsvangirai had won the first round of the presidential election in March, but fell short of an absolute majority.
While the political crisis has dragged on, Zimbabwe’s economy has continued its freefall with the world’s highest inflation rate – 11.2 million per cent in June, according to official figures.
Once hailed as Africa’s breadbasket, Zimbabwe’s economy has virtually collapsed over the past decade with inflation out of control and chronic shortages of foreign currency and food including the staples corn meal, sugar and cooking oil.
When the talks began in July, Mbeki tried to impose a two-week deadline; and while at first it appeared as if progress was rapid – serious sticking points emerged with Tsvangirai seeking to enlist support from African leaders and the United Nations to advance his case.
On what to expect on Monday, Mbeki said that a formal ceremony will be held and regional leaders will attend to commemorate the signing of the deal. He urged the media not to speculate on the content of the final document signed. He warned: “Don’t trust what you think you know.”
The principals to the talks, Mugabe, Tsvangirai and leader of the smaller faction of the MDC, Arthur Mutambara, had expre-ssed optimism earlier that a deal was imminent.
The signing of the deal is a major success and diplomatic breakthrough for President Mbeki’s quiet diplomacy which many critics had heralded as a failure.
President Mbeki has been in Zimbabwe since Monday trying to work out how Tsvangirai and President Mugabe would run an all-inclusive government.