Mbeki set to travel to Harare again for talks
Bill
zimonline
by Cuthbert Nzou
Tuesday 19 August 2008
HARARE - South African President Thabo Mbeki is expected to
travel to Zimbabwe this week to try one more time to push
President Robert Mugabe and opposition MDC party leader Morgan
Tsvangirai to agree to share power in a government of national
unity.
Diplomatic sources told ZimOnline that Mbeki - who they said
might arrive in Harare on Wednesday - planned to meet Mugabe,
Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, who heads a breakaway faction
of the MDC.
"Mbeki will be in Zimbabwe on Wednesday for the talks . . . he
realises the need for an urgent deal in the country to avert a
humanitarian crisis," one of the diplomats said, adding that it
was not immediately clear whether Mbeki would meet Tsvangirai in
Harare after the MDC leader announced he was going on tour of
the region this week.
The planned trip to Harare will be Mbeki's first major move to
push for a political settlement in Zimbabwe following a weekend
summit of leaders of the Southern African Development Community
(SADC) that failed to flog Mugabe's ruling ZANU PF party and the
MDC into signing a power-sharing pact.
Mbeki, who assumed the rotating chairmanship of SADC, spent four
days in Zimbabwe last week trying unsuccessfully to nudge
Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara to form a government of
national unity.
ZANU PF and MDC officials privately confirm that Mugabe and
Tsvangirai agree on nearly all the other aspects of a unity
government but sharply differ over who between them should wield
more power.
Tsvangirai wants to be executive prime minister with Mugabe
serving as ceremonial president while Mugabe is unwilling to
shed any of his wide-sweeping powers and has instead offered to
make Tsvangirai a non-executive premier.
The two rivals also differ on the duration of the unity
government with Tsvangirai saying it should last up to two years
while Mugabe prefers the government to serve a full five-year
term.
In a statement at the conclusion of the summit, SADC leaders
urged Zimbabwe's feuding political leaders to urgently sign any
outstanding agreements to pave way for a power-sharing
government seen as the most viable way to end the country's
long-running political and economic crisis.
Analysts say Zimbabwe's crisis that is marked by the world's
highest inflation of more than two million percent, severe
shortages of food, jobs, foreign currency and deepening poverty
worsened after Mugabe was re-elected unopposed in a widely
condemned June 27 presidential run-off vote boycotted by the
opposition because of violence.
Meanwhile the MDC has said convening Parliament before
conclusion of talks was contrary to the spirit of dialogue,
hinting it could pull out of negotiations altogether if Mugabe
called the House to sit.
Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said last week that Mugabe
could name a new Cabinet and summon the seventh Parliament to
commence following elections on March 29.
Mbeki on Sunday also said Parliament could be convened while the
power-sharing talks continued.
Mugabe has delayed convening Parliament or naming a new Cabinet
to give talks a chance. - ZimOnline