Zimbabwe deal agreed....Power-Sharing

Zimbabwe deal agreed....Power-Sharing

Mugabe naona ameamua kumpa nguvu mpinzani mwingine ambaye ni professa hapa marekani...Huyu jamaa yeyeb ni mwanachama wa MDC ya Tsivangirai...Ni profesa wa Rocket anaitwa Mukaramba kama sikosei...Yeye hawafagilii West kabisa na yeye ni professa hapa USA.
ani kadi anazocheza Mugabe ni nzito na zinamfanya Tsivangirai asiweze kutowa maamuzi yake hapo hapo kwani ni magumu na inabidi akaongee kwanza na wafadhili wake.
Sasa ujuwe sisi waafrika ni kama watumwa tu....Hapo naona wanasubiri nani ataibuka mshindi kati ya mchina,Mrussi dhidi ya mmarekani...Na ndio maana nasema ni heri waafrika wakiyapigania maslahi ao na hao mataifa makubwa kama wana uchungu sana na ni wana demokrasia..Basi wapigane wao na mshindi tuongee naye...Na tusijaribu kupigana kwasababu ya mtu mwingine..Bali tupiganie maslahi ya watoto wetu na yale a vizazi vijavyo.
 
Mugabe anamtaka Mukambara ili kumuongezea machungu Tsivangirai ambaye wamegombana siku chache kabla ya uchaguzi, jamaa akaamua kujiondoa na baadhi ya wafuasi. hakuweza kugombea urais kwa sababu hata yeye mwenyewe alijua kuwa hana wafuasi wengi wa kumuunga mkono na anazijua nguvu za tsivangirai. nadhani anatumika na Mugabe kumuibia siri za hasimu wake
 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7558578.stm

Nkomo's ghost haunts Zimbabwe talks

By Allan Little
BBC News, Johannesburg


There is a ghost at the table around which the four principal negotiators have been sitting these last three days, trying to resolve Zimbabwe's political crisis.

The talks are haunted by the spirit of the late Joshua Nkomo, whose fate stands as a warning to anyone trying to strike a deal with President Robert Mugabe.

Joshua Nkomo was, broadly, Mr Mugabe's contemporary, and a Zimbabwean liberation leader of impeccable credentials.

In 1980, at independence, he emerged as an alternative leader to Mr Mugabe.

His support base was in Matabeleland in the south and west of the country.

Ruthless campaign

Mr Mugabe fought him for five years.

He destroyed him in two ways. First he sent into Matabeleland the ruthless, North Korea-trained Fifth brigade.

Thousands of Mr Nkomo's supporters were murdered and their bodies dumped in mass graves in a two-year operation known as Gukurahundi.

Then - and this was a master stroke - Mr Mugabe reached an agreement with Mr Nkomo: a power-sharing agreement.

Mr Nkomo was brought into the government as vice-president.

Officially, the two political parties merged to form Zanu-PF, but in reality Mr Mugabe's party swallowed Mr Nkomo's Zapu party whole.

Mr Nkomo was neutralised, destroyed.

Mr Mugabe used what, on the face of it, was sold to the world as a power-sharing agreement to consolidate his own one-party state.

It entrenched his dictatorship for 20 years.

If Mr Nkomo - who died in 1999 - could speak from the grave, would he warn the opposition Movement of Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai not to walk into the same trap?

Deadlock

Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai have agreed on the need to share power.

Mr Mugabe stays as president, Mr Tsvangirai becomes prime minister.

But they are deadlocked on how much and what kind of power Mr Mugabe should retain.

Mr Mugabe has in mind what you might call the Nkomo solution: he retains control of the military and security services that he has used so successfully to terrorise his way to successive election victories.

In other words he retains the coercive instruments of real executive power.

Mr Tsvangirai gets the economy to sort out.

Mr Tsvangirai is not weak enough to have to accept this poisoned chalice.

For one thing the European Union and the United States have both made it clear that would not help fund a recovery package under a deal like this.

Mr Mugabe makes hay with this, accusing his rival of being the candidate of Western interests, of resurgent British imperialism.

This plays well in much of Africa, but it no longer plays well in Zimbabwe, where there is now real economic privation.

On the contrary, the evidence is that there is immense pressure on the MDC from below, from the millions of ordinary Zimbabweans who have risked much and endured more.

If they are afraid of anything now it is that Mr Tsvangirai will be tempted to settle.

Many would see such a deal as an unforgivable betrayal.

'Bullying'

At the negotiating table it has been three against one - with Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and Arthur Mutambara, who leads a minority faction of the opposition, joining forces with Mr Mugabe to put pressure on Mr Tsvangirai to accept the Zanu-PF power-sharing plan.

Brave as he is, constancy is not one of Mr Tsvangirai's virtues.

The talks have hung on whether he would bend to this pressure.

There is much dark talk in MDC circles of intolerable bullying.

But Mr Tsvangirai has not caved. He has shown more backbone than the other three had hoped.

What he wants is the transfer of real executive power from the president's office to that of the prime minister.

Mr Mugabe would stay on as head of state in a largely ceremonial role.

The odds are stacked against that. The hardliners who run the military and security services are implacably against it.

Mr Mugabe is negotiating for them as well as for his party.

But Mr Tsvangirai has two strong cards: the first is that he holds the key to an internationally funded recovery programme, which cannot happen without him; and time is on his side.

In South Africa, Thabo Mbeki has less than a year left in office. His likely successor, Jacob Zuma, has been much more critical of Mr Mugabe, and his party, the African National Congress, has openly accused Mr Mugabe of bringing the liberation tradition into disrepute.

It is in Mr Mugabe's interests to strike a deal before Mr Zuma takes over.

The parallels are not exact - this is not 1987.

Joshua Nkomo did not, then, hold the cards that Morgan Tsvangirai holds now.

Robert Mugabe is finding that it is no longer so easy to swallow the opposition whole and go on governing, unchallenged
 
Hizo zote ni sera za siasa za mafisadi. Huu ni mfumo mpya wa mafisadi kuendelea kushika madaraka. Mwisho wanakubali kushare madaraka kwa vile wanajuwa ukweli wameiba kura katika uchaguzi. Ilitokea Kenya ikaenda Zimbabwe.
 
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2008/08/200881415192887846.html

Tsvangirai's passport returned

Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of Zimbabwe's opposition, has had his passport returned to him after it was seized at Harare airport, his spokesman said.

"It is true his passport has been handed over to him," George Sibotshiwe said on Thursday.

Tsvangirai had been prevented from boarding an aeroplane earlier in the day to travel to talks with the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

Another official from Tsvangirai's party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), said passports had been returned to the leader and two other party members travelling with him.

"The passport has been returned for all of them, but no reason has been given as to why they had been taken," the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said.

Tsvangirai, his party's secretary general Tendai Biti, and the opposition's international relations secretary, Eliphas Mukonoweshuro, had had their passports seized when they sought to fly to the regional summit in South Africa, the party had said.

Strong message

Biti said the incident should send a strong message to leaders of the SADC, a regional bloc bringing together 14 countries, including Zimbabwe.

"We have been trying to tell President [Thabo] Mbeki about things like this, and people wouldn't believe us. But now here it is ... for all to see," he said.

Tsvangirai said he had been invited to attend the weekend SADC summit to be hosted by Mbeki, the South African president, mediating power-sharing talks between Zimbabwe's opposition and Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's president.

The talks stalled this week after Mugabe and Tsvangirai failed to agree on senior leadership posts, a sensitive issue for the long-time political rivals.

Tsvangirai has been using emergency travel documents after the authorities refused in June to renew his passport after it expired.

Thursday's incident is likely to raise tensions between Mugabe and Tsvangirai and embarrass Mbeki, who has dismissed criticism that he is too soft on Zimbabwe's president, saying pressure will only aggravate the country's problems.

The political stalemate has worsened an already dire economic crisis. Zimbabwe has the world's highest inflation rate, 80 per cent unemployment and widespread shortages of basic goods.

'Principled stand'

Tsvangirai told reporters earlier at the airport he was sure power-sharing talks with Mugabe's government would resume.

Asked by reporters if he was still optimistic about a deal, he said: "Oh, yes, of course, we got our independence after how many talks? Hundreds and tens of meetings had been held."

The talks on power-sharing began last month after Mugabe's unopposed re-election in a vote in June that was condemned around the world and boycotted by Tsvangirai because of attacks on his supporters.

Tsvangirai has said Zimbabwe's post-election government should be based on the March 29 first-round presidential election - which he won, but not by a clear majority.

Mugabe says the MDC should accept the result of the June 27 run-off.

"I am there [at the talks] to protect the will of the people and we are taking a principled stand," Tsvangirai said on Thursday.

Arthur Mutambara, whose breakaway MDC faction has 10 seats in parliament, has agreed to power-sharing with Mugabe
 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/14/zimbabwe

Zimbabwe's generals will not surrender

The country's army will never cede power to Tsvangirai's MDC: it would be tantamount to losing political authority

Blessing-Miles Tendi guardian.co.uk,
Thursday August 14 2008 17:30 BST Article history

Trying to predict the outcome of the power sharing negotiations between Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF, Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC and the Arthur Mutambara MDC is a leap in the dark. The negotiating parties agreed to a wholesale media blackout before the talks began. Accordingly, they have given very little away, barring a dribble of spin lapped up by a gullible and culpable media starved of newsworthy material about the talks. Nobody can speak authoritatively about the negotiations – not even the negotiators themselves.

This uncertainty is symptomatic of Zimbabwean politics over the last decade. Nobody foresaw that Mugabe's government would seize white-owned commercial farms in the violent and economically disastrous way it did in 2000. The country's economy continues its inexorable decline. Time and again we have predicted total economic collapse. It has proved as elusive as Osama bin Laden.

We did not fathom the lengths to which Mugabe would go in stealing election after election. Nor did we envisage the 2005 nationwide "urban clean-up", in which more than 569,000 Zimbabweans lost their homes. It was unthinkable that Zimbabwe would become so vilified internationally, and that Africa and the international community would prove so impotent in arresting the country's decline. Even more unimaginable was the emigration of millions of Zimbabweans. We got so despairing as to speculate about Mugabe's "failing health" countless times. The Zimbabwean bishop Pius Ncube prayed for his swift death. It never came.

But, if there is anything we misunderstood and still overlook, it is the political role of the Zimbabwean security forces, who today detained Tsvangarai at Harare airport. In January 2002, they announced to the world that they would "not accept, let alone support or salute, anyone" without liberation war credentials. This statement was repeated on the eve of every national election thereafter. We responded by labeling their routine election time statements as intimidation. "They cannot be serious. Military coups are not announced, they are just staged," we comforted ourselves. We were wrong.

Interviews I conducted with Zimbabwean military officials in 2006 confirmed this position. It was first forged in the early 1980s. Drawing from their experience of fighting in the country's liberation war, some senior army officers see themselves as the "guardians" of Zimbabwean independence. They refuse to countenance the prospect of Zimbabwe being ruled by a political party other than Zanu-PF – the "deliverer of Zimbabwean independence".

And so it was that when Mugabe and Zanu-PF wobbled in the March 2008 elections, the most powerful force that mobilised to shore them up was the security establishment. The violence that followed was overseen by senior members of the military, deployed to the country's various provinces. To think that the security establishment will allow Zimbabwe's rival politicians to decide the country's fate unfettered, through the talks, is to misread their political role once again.

On August 11, Mugabe arrived for negotiations at Zimbabwe's Rainbow Hotel in the company of Zimbabwe's senior army general Constantine Chiwenga – an ominous sign. There can be no "success" to the talks without the security officials' acquiescence. The institution of the Zimbabwe state has degenerated, but the security establishment, while a shadow of its former self, remains its most formidable and functioning arm. It is high time we took its pronouncements seriously. The generals will never allow Mugabe to cede executive powers to Tsvangirai. Doing so would be tantamount to surrendering the political authority they have accrued.

Mugabe's own power ambitions should not be downplayed either. Mugabe is not your average eightysomething-year-old man. Handing over executive powers to Tsvangirai is negotiating himself out of the power he thrives on. Moreover, within the Zanu-PF politburo, the party's supreme decision-making body, there are powerful politicians, such as Emmerson Mnangagwa and Solomon Mujuru, who have seen themselves as Mugabe's rightful successors for years. They too will not countenance anything that would put paid to their own power ambitions.

Tsvangirai is stuck between a lions' den and a vipers' nest. He can turn his back on the negotiations and forsake a chance of gaining a foothold in government, or he can sign up to a compromise deal that does not relieve Mugabe of executive powers and risk losing the support of many Zimbabweans who see him as their champion.

Thabo Mbeki, meanwhile, can claim only a hollow victory for his "quiet diplomacy" if the talks "succeed". The Zimbabwe crisis developed to its current dire proportions under the South African president's watch. I have discussed the factors behind Mbeki's stance on Zimbabwe on Cif before, but will add one more. Given the Zimbabwean security forces' political role, we must ask ourselves how Mbeki could have checkmated their power and authority. This is a difficult question – because armies are only checkmated by other armies, and yet force was unacceptable to Mbeki and the region.
 
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601116&sid=arlDnzTNa4MY&refer=africa

Zimbabwe's Mugabe, Opposition Resume Negotiations

By Brian Latham and Joe Balise

Aug. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Negotiations between President Robert Mugabe's ruling party and opposition leaders aimed at ending Zimbabwe's political crisis resumed in neighboring South Africa, an opposition spokesman said.

The Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change and an MDC faction adjourned talks on Aug. 12. Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the MDC, traveled to South Africa today to attend a Southern African Development Community heads-of-state summit in Johannesburg on Saturday, Aug. 16 and the day after.

``The talks are underway already,'' Edwin Mushoriwa, a spokesman for the MDC splinter group led by Arthur Mutambara, said in an interview from Johannesburg. ``The parties are trying to reach consensus before the SADC meeting.''

Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara have held three days of face-to-face talks in Harare aimed at resolving a dispute over elections earlier this year. Mugabe extended his 28-year rule of Zimbabwe in a June 27 presidential runoff vote in which he was the sole candidate. Tsvangirai, who won the first ballot in March, withdrew after alleging his supporters were being targeted in a state-sponsored campaign of violence.

``As Mr. Tsvangirai said yesterday, we're committed to talks and had hoped the Zimbabwe issue would be resolved at this weekend's SADC summit,'' George Sibotshiwe, Tsvangirai's spokesman, said in a telephone interview today from Harare earlier.

Mbeki Report

South African President Thabo Mbeki, who is mediating in the talks in Zimbabwe, was mandated by the 14-nation SADC group to help end Zimbabwe's political crisis. He is scheduled to deliver a report at the summit on the progress he has made in the talks.

The Zimbabwe crisis will be discussed by SADC's committee on politics and security tonight, with presentations expected from both Mugabe and Tsvangirai, South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said. The committee comprises the leaders of Angola, Swaziland and Tanzania.

``The talks are still going on,'' Dlamini-Zuma told reporters in Johannesburg. ``Until they are finalized, it's work in progress.''

Leaders attending the meeting should bring pressure to bear on Mugabe to stand down, German Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul said in an e-mailed statement.

`New Government Needed'

``Zimbabwe's Southern African neighbors are called upon to make it finally and quite explicitly clear to Robert Mugabe that a new government is needed in Zimbabwe,'' she said. ``This unspeakable act of holding his own people hostage must be ended now.''

Zimbabwe is in its 10th year of economic recession and has the world's highest inflation rate, 2.2 million percent, following a land-redistribution campaign begun by Mugabe in 2000. The program, in which white-owned commercial farms were seized for redistribution to black farmers deprived of land during colonial rule, slashed agricultural output and led to shortages of basic commodities including flour and cooking oil.

Botswana's Khama Boycotts

Botswana's President Ian Khama won't attend the summit in protest against Mugabe's insistence that he won the June runoff election, said Foreign Minister Phandu Skelemani.

``We are not sitting at the same table with Robert Mugabe if he represents Zimbabwe because the runoff election didn't produce a president,'' Skelemani said in an interview today from Durban, South Africa. ``Sitting at the same table with Mugabe would give unqualified legitimacy to his presidency.''

Khama's absence won't affect the outcome of the summit or the unity of the organization, Dlamini-Zuma said.

``Botswana is a sovereign state and it has a right to take what ever decision it deems fit,'' she said. ``Decisions will be taken and bind everyone'' that belongs to SADC, she said.

SADC's members are Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Seychelles, which left the bloc in 2004, owing it $2.6 million in outstanding dues, is due to be readmitted at the summit.

To contact the reporters on this story: Brian Latham in Durban via Johannesburg at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net; Joseph Balise in Gaborone via Johannesburg at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.
 
Botswana shuns summit over Mugabe

Botswana says its President Seretse Khama Ian Khama will boycott a summit of regional leaders because Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe has been invited. The country has said that Mr Mugabe should not attend such gatherings until a power-sharing deal has been reached. It is also urging its neighbours not to give legitimacy to the widely-condemned Zimbabwean presidential elections.

South African President Thabo Mbeki, who is mediating in the Zimbabwean talks, is hosting the summit. Correspondents say Botswana's move to boycott the 14-member Southern African Development Community (Sadc) summit is "unprecedented" and add that it shows growing opposition to Mr Mugabe's continued rule. Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called on the Zimbabwean government to lift restrictions on aid deliveries, to stop "a catastrophic humanitarian crisis".

"I call on the government of Zimbabwe to fully respect humanitarian principles and the impartiality and neutrality of voluntary and non-governmental organisations, allowing them to operate freely and with unrestricted access to those in need," Mr Ban said in a statement.

Condemned

He said curbs on aid agencies imposed in June meant that less than 20% of 1.5m people in need had received help. Talks in Zimbabwe have involved President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party, Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and a breakaway MDC faction led by Arthur Mutambara. The BBC's Letlhogile Lucas in Botswana's capital, Gaborone, says the government took the decision because it did not recognise Mr Mugabe as the legitimate president of Zimbabwe following his victory in an election that was widely condemned as a sham.

Mr Tsvangirai won the first presidential round in March, before pulling out of a June run-off citing a campaign of violence against his supporters. Basic foodstuffs, including maize meal and bread, are often in short supply in Zimbabwe, which was once one of Africa's leading agricultural producers. About 80% of the country's 12.3m people are unemployed and many depend on food aid.

Impact on neighbours

Prior to the food aid ban, many Zimbabweans were already suffering from food shortages and rampant inflation, a situation made worse by the election violence, the UN said. The government had accused aid agencies of campaigning for the opposition. Many aid agencies have pulled staff out of rural areas since field operations were frozen by the government. Earlier this week, Mr Mbeki spoke about Zimbabwe's economic crisis. Hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans have fled the worsening political and economic situation, many crossing over the borders into neighbouring South Africa, Zambia and Botswana.

Mr Mbeki said he was determined to reach a deal and promised to stay in Zimbabwe for six months to get one if he had to. Mr Mugabe has blamed the crisis on a Western conspiracy to remove him from power.
Click to expand...

Msimamo wa Tanzania ni nini? Au sisi bado ni kichwa cha mwendawazimu ambao tunasubiri nchi zingine ziseme kwanza. Je, kwa nini Ushelisheli walijitoa na sasa wanataka kujiunga tena? Nani anampa kichwa Robert? Je, wanamuogopa dictactor?
 
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/17/world/africa/17zimbabwe.html?hp

Zimbabwe Opposition Head Insists on Real Power

By CELIA W. DUGGER
Published: August 16, 2008

JOHANNESBURG - The leader of Zimbabwe's opposition - in a feisty and jovial mood - said on Saturday in his first interview since he began power-sharing talks with President Robert Mugabe almost a month ago that he will not agree to any deal that does not give him the authority to effectively govern his economically ruined homeland.

"It's better not to have a deal than to have a bad deal," said Morgan Tsvangirai, the former trade union leader who has been Mr. Mugabe's nemesis for almost a decade.

Mr. Tsvangirai was clearly sending a forceful message to both Mr. Mugabe and President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, the mediator of the talks, about the limits of his willingness to compromise. After three days of intensive negotiations that adjourned on Tuesday, the protagonists have again begun conferring with Mr. Mbeki here on the sidelines of a meeting of southern African leaders about how to get talks moving again.

Mr. Mugabe, whose re-election in a June runoff after 28 years in power was widely seen as a sham, took his place this morning on a dais crowded with other heads of state, but he did not receive his usual adulatory welcome. Dignitaries from across the region were silent, even somber, as the presidents strode into the hall.

Mr. Mbeki told the assembled leaders that he is trying to engineer a final agreement this weekend. And the pressure on him to deliver a deal is evident. Just outside the convention hall where the Southern African Development Community had gathered, there was a raucous anti-Mugabe demonstration of trade unionists allied with Mr. Mbeki's own governing party.

But Mr. Tsvangirai, seen by some African leaders and Western diplomats as having the only legitimate claim on the presidency after besting Mr. Mugabe in a credible March election, said the most basic issue of how he and Mr. Mugabe would share power remains unsettled.

George Charamba, Mr. Mugabe's press secretary, said in an interview Thursday that in any power-sharing government Mr. Mugabe would remain as head of the government and in charge of the cabinet - conditions Mr. Tsvangirai said were untenable.

Mr. Tsvangirai said it was acceptable to him if Mr. Mugabe retained the title of president with a role in overseeing the government. And Mr. Tsvangirai is willing to split the cabinet posts between his and the governing party. But all the cabinet ministers would need to report to him, he said. Only a coherent governing structure would enable Zimbabwe to attract the aid from international donors that is essential to rebuilding Zimbabwe's shattered economy, he said.

"Who is in charge of the cabinet?" Mr. Tsvangirai asked. "To whom do all these ministers report? Can you dismiss them if they breach? It's fundamental."

After years in which Mr. Mugabe, 84, and Mr. Tsvangirai, 56, never met, they have spent a lot of time together recently.

Mr. Tsvangirai described Mr. Mugabe as physically frail, mentally sharp - and paranoid about the intentions of the British in particular and the West in general to bring him down in "conspiracies that do not exist," as Mr. Tsvangirai put it.

"I've joked with him," said Mr. Tsvangirai. "I've talked to him. I've tried to put sense to him. But he is adamant. I've even suggested to him that perhaps it's time for him to give up - straight in the face."

Mr. Tsvangirai is not alone in wishing Mr. Mugabe would let go of power. Mr. Mugabe's two harshest critics in the region were absent at the meeting Saturday. Botswana's president, Seretse Khama Ian Khama, boycotted it on grounds that Mr. Mugabe's presence there would endow him with a legitimacy he did not deserve. And President Levy Mwanawasa of Zambia was still in a Paris hospital after suffering a stroke.

But Zambia's foreign minister, Kabinga J. Pande, in a speech on his president's behalf, suggested the integrity of the regional body of southern African leaders itself was at stake in the Zimbabwe crisis. Mr. Pande described events in Zimbabwe as "a serious blot on the culture of democracy in our subregion."

Zimbabwean authorities on Thursday temporarily blocked Mr. Tsvangirai from boarding a flight to Johannesburg, saying he did not have proper travel documents. Officials in Mr. Mugabe's party accused Mr. Tsvangirai of taking his marching orders from American and European diplomats in the talks.

Mr. Tsvangirai's party, in turn, accused governing party officials and intelligence agents of trying to recruit opposition members of Parliament and released a roll call of more than 100 of its supporters who it said were killed in state-sponsored violence during the election season.

Asked Saturday what he would say to Mr. Mugabe if he was sitting next to him, Mr. Tsvangirai patted the couch in his hotel room and said: "I'll say, ‘Old man, you're out of touch. You're out of place. Look around you. Who of your age is around?' "
 
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=2765

Summit ends with no deal for Zimbabwe

JOHANNESBURG (AP/Own Correspondent) - Zimbabwe’s feuding political rivals had not reached any agreement by the end of the two-day SADC regional summit where the country’s crisis was placed high on the agenda amid high expectations of agreement.

“We’re finished,” George Sibotshiwe, a spokesman for the mainstream Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) which is led by Morgan Tsvangirai and which won parliamentary elections in March. He was referring to the meeting held with regional leaders on the sidelines of the summit while responding to a question whether any agreement had been reached.

“No, not at all,” Sibotshiwe said.

In a speech to southern African leaders on Friday Tsvangirai had indicated that his party was negotiating for him to assume the proposed office of Prime Minister with executive powers, while President Robert Mugabe, leader of the party in government retained the office of President and command of the military as a means of resolving the contentious issue of who would lead any unity government.

Tsvangirai outlined his party’s proposal in a speech he delivered to regional cabinet ministers gathered for the SADC summit on Friday, on the eve of the summit.

Tsvangirai said the proposal presented by the MDC in the deadlocked negotiations with Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party, would mean a major curbing of the powers Mugabe has wielded over the past 28 years. Details of Tsvangirai speech were only revealed publicly on Saturday night. He said the two sides remained unable to agree on how powers would be divided between him and Mugabe. A South African Cabinet minister closely involved in the talks, Sydney Mufamadi, said on Saturday that a deal was close but was unclear if a breakthrough would come during the summit.

And after months of attacks on opposition supporters, the prospect of Mr Mugabe remaining commander in chief was worrisome. Eliphas Mukonoweshuro, Tsvangirai’s foreign policy adviser, acknowledged there was “a possibility of abuse”, but said regional leaders could keep a check on Mr Mugabe.

The opposition may have little choice. Zimbabwe’s military leaders who are members of the powerful Joint Operations Command, which now wields immense power in Harare, have said publicly that they would not recognise Tsvangirai’s authority.

South Africa’s President, Thabo Mbeki, who has been mediating Zimbabwe’s power-sharing talks, spent much of last week trying to push Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai to strike a deal.

The question of Mr Mugabe’s role has been a major sticking point, with the long-time President reportedly refusing to yield any power and his administration publicly mocking Tsvangirai’s claim to have the mandate to lead Zimbabwe.

At the opening of the summit on Saturday, Tsvangirai sat in a prominent position on the floor while Mugabe sat at the head table with other presidents. The southern African leaders gathered again on Sunday on the final day of the summit, amid a push for a Zimbabwe deal before the end of the meeting.
 
http://www.talkzimbabwe.com/news/130/ARTICLE/3191/2008-08-18.html

President Mbeki briefs the press on SADC summit

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 18:35:00 +0000

REMARKS by South African President Thabo Mbeki on the conclusion of the 28th SADC Heads of State and Government Summit, Sandton, August 17 2008.



Ladies and gentlemen of the media, good evening. I am sure that all of you have received a copy of the communiqué that was approved by the SADC Summit earlier today which contains the principle decisions that were taken by the SADC Summit. In that context, I must repeat the strong view of the Summit, all of us wish the President of Zambia Levy Mwanawasa a speedy recovery, our outgoing Chair.


We discussed off course as is normal at a SADC Summit political and socio-economic issues and on the political front, noted the efforts being made in the region to address issues in that areas - that include the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Malawi and off course, Zimbabwe, I will return to this just now.



It is our belief that all these situations in the DRC, the resolution of the electoral dispute in Lesotho, and the constitutional dispute in Malawi, that progress is being made towards the resolution of the challenges in that regard.


As we indicated earlier, the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Co-operation chaired by Angolan President Dos Santos and later by the new Chairperson of the Organ, His Majesty King Mswati III, met on Friday, Saturday and today to discuss the situation in Zimbabwe. In that context, the SADC Organ has issued a communiqué that you will receive shortly which among other things, expresses firm opinion that documents that are contained in the Facilitator's Report reflect that framework, spirit and purpose of the SADC and African Union decisions and in view of that, that they are a good basis for a global agreement among the Zimbabwe parties and in that context, therefore, we appeal to the Zimbabwe parties to sign any outstanding agreements and to conclude the negotiations in Zimbabwe and said recognizing that while negotiations are continuing it may be necessary to convene parliament to give effect to the will of the people as expressed in the Parliamentary elections in March this year and off course, encouraged the Facilitator to continue the mediation efforts which means that the negotiations will continue and the Facilitation will continue to do its work in this regard in trying to implement this decision of SADC and encourage the parties to conclude these outstanding agreements on the basis, that in fact, the documents that have been agreed to, provide this good basis for the conclusion of the negotiations.


In that context, I must mention that the report of the Facilitator that is referred to in the communiqué of the Extraordinary Summit of the Organ is a comprehensive report which contains all of the documents that have been negotiated and agreed to in the negotiations that started last year and that would include the Draft Constitution that was agreed to in September last year and a whole range of other documents. It is a comprehensive report of the negotiations as they have been going on now for at least 15 months. That is the report to which the resolution refers.


Off course, the outstanding result of the conference with regard to economic matters is the formal launch of the SADC Free Trade Area (FTA) and the critical challenge with regard to that is that we implement everything that is contained in this FTA to accelerate the process of economic integration of the region.

The Summit also then said, that given that we have launched the FTA we must continue the work that would lead to the formation of the SADC Customs Union that would be the next step in that regard.


It also paid attention to two important matters related: the implementation of the decisions that came out of the conference held in Mauritius to address poverty in the region and again, you would see that reflected in the communiqué that was issued earlier and a related matter about food security and again took decisions about what we should do in this regard to act within the region to address food shortages that some countries in the region are experiencing but otherwise to deal with this matter of ensuring that the region is self-sufficient in food production and what specific steps need to be taken in that regard.


Off course naturally, we addressed the matter of energy and what could be done in the region to address this.


As you know, we also signed a number of legal instruments which included the Protocol on Gender and Agreements in Science and Technology, Trade and so on. So, these are some of the principle outcomes and as I had indicated, they would be included in the SADC communiqué as well as the communiqué of the Extraordinary Summit of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Co-operation.


It is our view that certainly the Conference completed its agenda and it is our view that it was indeed an excellent Summit that took decisions which are of importance to the political and economic structure of the region and in amending various provisions to the SADC Secretariat which also meant amending the Treaty of SADC also emphasized the point that SADC Summit is very keen that we should indeed have the capacity to implement the decisions that have been taken so that we do indeed accelerate our forward movement with regard to all of these matters that relate to political stability and so on in the region as well as the process of economic integration and the socio-economic upliftment of all the people in our region so, we believe that this was indeed a very successful Summit and I must conclude by saying that we are very pleased that Seychelles came back into SADC and that in itself was confirmation of the relevance of SADC in terms of the future of our countries in the region and that is indeed why Seychelles thought it was important that it should come back into the Community and we are very pleased by this.


Let me then finally thank all of you for your co-operation in covering the Summit and the SADC region in particular and I would hope that we would continue to co-operate in the manner in which we have because we are very interested indeed that our people in the region, in particular, should be familiar with the decisions we are taking and the work that the Community is doing.

Thank you.


Questions and answers


Question: Mr President I would like to know if you have any sense of when we can expect to see a final agreement signed by the negotiating parties in Zimbabwe? Can you also give us a sense of the concerns around the outstanding agreements?


Mbeki: It is clearly not possible to say when the negotiations would be concluded. It is a matter of the negotiating parties convening to look at whatever matter might be outstanding. One cannot allocate a date to this and the SADC Organ did not indicate a date by which this matter should be concluded with regard to the completion of this process, except to indicate the urgency of the matter. So, it is not possible to say when the negotiations would be concluded.


Question: Mr President you said that the Organ agreed that the documents provided form a good basis on which to conclude the negotiations. Does that mean that you
feel that there is no need to negotiate over the documents?


Mbeki: I am not aware if this communiqué has been distributed. You will see that that particular paragraph expresses the strong opinion of the Extraordinary Summit of the SADC Organ having studied the documents to which I referred earlier, came that conclusion looking at those documents relative to the decisions/resolutions of SADC and the African Union on the matter, expressed that opinion but said that negotiations should continue and that would include concluding negotiations and signing any outstanding agreements as a matter of urgency.


So essentially, what the Extraordinary Summit was saying was that negotiations should continue but of course, having had the possibility for the first time of looking at the entirety of the documentation, the Organ felt it should express its own view about this because bearing in mind, these two resolutions - SADC and the African Union - so, it says that negotiations need to continue but it is off that view with regard to the quality and extent of the work that has already been done by the Zimbabwean negotiators that they have produced a set of documents that in the view of the Organ do indeed address the issues that were raised in these two resolutions and to that extent, they believe form a good basis for a speedy resolution of outstanding matters but that the negotiations must off course, continue.


Question: Mr President what are the outstanding issues in the agreement?


Mbeki: Let me explain something before we get more questions - I am speaking here not as the Facilitator but as the Chair of SADC. Now you are asking me to get involved in a discussion that deals with the Facilitation and I must say that I cannot answer questions posed to the Facilitator - I can answer questions posed to the Chair of SADC but bear in mind that there is an agreement in the Facilitation process arrived at by all the parties and the Facilitation that we would not handle the process of negotiations through the media and indeed I am sure you will remember this because it is also included in the Memorandum of Understanding so to that extent, there is a limitation that is imposed with regard to how much detail we can express but that is a matter that belongs to the Facilitation process.


But with regard to what the Organ discussed I think it is properly and fully reflected in the communiqué of the Extraordinary Summit of the Organ.


Question: Mr President yesterday, when you were speaking as the Chair of SADC, you said that the negotiations needed to be concluded to extricate the Zimbabwean people from the dire situation in which they find themselves. Could you give us an impression of what you see as the humanitarian urgency for a deal?


Mbeki: What drove SADC in the first place, to last year convene an extraordinary Summit of the Organ in Dar-es-Salaam in March last year to discuss Zimbabwe - there were other matters on the agenda like the DRC and so on - was driven by very serious concerns about the matter you have referred to, the humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe.


And the discussions that have taken place over the last three days focused us on really trying to assist to speed up the process of the conclusion of the negotiations and the implementation of the agreements that would come from these negotiations.


It is driven precisely by these very deep seated concerns in the region that the political concerns must be created so that with the greatest urgency this humanitarian, economic and social condition in Zimbabwe can be addressed as a matter of urgency by an inclusive government. So it is matter of fundamental concern to the region - this socio-economic and humanitarian condition of the people of Zimbabwe.


But believe that we need this inclusive government to drive this process of addressing these challenges but this consideration of the humanitarian situation of the people of Zimbabwe is fundamental to all of the statements that are made and this decision of SADC emphasizing the urgency of this matter. It is not just to address the political stability but also to create the conditions so that you have an inclusive government that would then address these other urgent issues.


Question: Mr President as the Chair of SADC, do you believe that any deal that leaves President Mugabe with any power is going to be acceptable to the international donor community and is it going to be a long term solution to the crisis in Zimbabwe?


Mbeki: The two resolutions that bind the Facilitation - the first one said specifically that could the Facilitator please get the ruling party and the opposition to meet and discuss in order to resolve the political challenges facing Zimbabwe.


The African Union resolution said the same thing. And so, we have indeed been working over this period with the ruling party and the MDC lead by Mr Tsvangirai and the MDC lead by Professor Mutambara and the decision that will be reached about what needs to happen will come from the Zimbabwean parties.


It certainly would not be correct for the Facilitator to hand down any prescriptions to say that the person or group that should be part of the inclusive government to which these parties have agreed so it would be a matter really that the Zimbabwean parties would agree to - who is in that inclusive government and the role that they would play in that inclusive government.


That must truly come from the Zimbabwe parties because I think of all of us, they know best what is good for Zimbabwe and the thing is that everybody - the Facilitator, SADC, the international community - would have to respect what the Zimbabwe political leadership says about Zimbabwe and I am quite certain that the Zimbabwe political parties would answer the question you have posed on the basis of what they think is right for Zimbabwe, what they think is required in Zimbabwe.


It is not any determination that can, nor indeed should, be made by anybody. Let's really allow the people of Zimbabwe to determine their future. This is critically important because any solution that is imposed from outside will not last, it will not last, unless it is a common product that is owned by this entire collective of the leadership of Zimbabwe. I think if the Facilitation tried to impose any solution we would be creating a situation that actually would amount to creating conditions for the failure of whatever might be incorrectly described as a solution.
 
We've got a deal' on power-sharing: Zimbabwe's Tsvangirai

11/09/2008 19h19
HARARE (AFP) said:
- Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai Thursday said there was a finally a "deal" on power-sharing, as he emerged from a meeting with President Robert Mugabe. "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 late Thursday on the outcome of the four-day meeting between Mugabe and MDC leaders. The power sharing talks have long been deadlocked over the allocation of executive power between Mugabe and Tsvangirai. Mugabe won a controversial June presidential runoff unopposed after Tsvangirai withdrew, citing state-sponsored violence against his supporters.

Tsvangirai had won the first round of the presidential election in March, but fell short of an absolute majority. Mugabe has led Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980, but his party lost its parliamentary majority to the MDC for the first time in legislative elections in March.

While the political crisis has dragged on, Zimbabwe's economy has continued
its freefall with the world's highest inflation rate -- 11.2 million percent 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 cornmeal, sugar and cooking oil.
Click to expand...



Signing ceremony will be conducted on Monday.
 
..i hope Wazimbabwe watapata nafasi ya kupumua na kujitafutia maisha bora.
 
Zimbabwe sasa mambo shwari, Mugabe akubali yaishe


HARARE, Zimbabwe

BAADA ya vuta nikuvute kwa miezi kadhaa, hatimaye Rais Robert Mugabe wa Zimbabwe amekubali kugawana madaraka na wapinzani wake.

Hatua hiyo imefikiwa jana katika kikao maalumu kati ya msuluhishi mkuu wa mgogoro huo, Rais wa Afrika Kusini, Thabo Mbeki na vyama vikuu vya upinzani nchini humo yaliyoanza tangu mwanzoni mwa wiki hii mjini Harare.

Taarifa za kufikiwa makubaliano hayo zimedhibitishwa na msemaji wa Rais Mbeki, Mukoni Ratshitanga ambaye amesema kwamba chama tawala kinachoongozwa na Rais Mugabe Zanu-PF na vyama vikuu vya upinzani MDC vilifikia makubaliano katika kikao chao cha jana kilichozikutanisha pande zote tatu.

Akithibitisha taarifa hizo, Ratshitanga amesema kwamba Rais Mugabe, Kiongozi wa MDC-T, Morgan Tsvangirai na kiongozi wa Chama Cha MDC, Arthur Mutambara walisaini makubaliano hayo katika mkutano uliofanyika mjini Harare.

Kwa upande wake Rais Mbeki amesema kwamba licha ya kufikia makubaliano kati ya Tsvangirai na Rais Mugabe lakini mkataba kamili utasainiwa rasmi Jumatatu wiki ijayo.

Kufikiwa kwa makubaliano hayo pia kumethibitishwa na Tsvangirai lakini Rais Mugabe hakuweza kupatikana kuthibitisha taarifa hizo.

Taarifa nyingine kutoka ndani ya kikao hicho zilieleza kwamba tayari Serikali na MDC wamekubaliana kwamba Tsvangirai atakuwa Waziri Mkuu na Rais Mugabe ataendelea kuwa rais kama ilivyokuwa awali.

Kabla ya kufikiwa makubaliano hayo, taarifa za awali za vyanzo vya habari vilivyoko karibu na mazungumzo hayo zilieleza kwamba makubaliano hayo ya kugawana madaraka yalifikiwa baada ya vyama vya upinzani vya Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) kukubaliana kuanzisha Baraza la Mawaziri la pamoja ambalo litaongozwa na Kiongozi Mkuu wa Upinzani wa Chama Cha MDC-T, Morgan Tsvangirai wakati Rais Mugabe ataendelea kubakia kuwa mwenyekiti wa baraza hilo.

Taarifa za vyanzo hivyo, zilieleza kuwa vyama hivyo vilikubaliana kuanzisha umoja baada ya kushindwa kumuangusha Rais Mugabe kutoka katika nafasi hiyo.

Vilieleza kuwa baada ya kushindwa, vyama hivyo vikaibuka na mapendekezo hayo mapya ya kuundwa Baraza la Mawaziri litakaloongozwa na Tsvangirai.
 
---The Power Sharing Deal has been signed. Pictures in a little while....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Our Community

Regional Communities

Back
Top Bottom
Menu
Forums
New posts
Log in
Register