Power-sharing deal reached
Zimbabwe rivals agree unity deal via the BBC:
Zimbabwe’s opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe have reached a deal to share power.
After mediating four days of talks in Harare, South African President Thabo Mbeki said the deal would be signed and made public on Monday.
Mr Mugabe has not yet commented. The two sides had already agreed that Mr Tsvangirai would be prime minister with Mr Mugabe staying on as president.
But negotiations had faltered over how the two sides were to share power.
Mr Tsvangirai, the leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party, was first to announce the deal as the talks ended.
Later, Mr Mbeki told a news conference: “An agreement has been reached about all the matters on the agenda of the negotiations.”
Mr Mugabe won a controversial June presidential run-off election unopposed after Mr Tsvangirai withdrew, claiming his supporters were the brunt of a state-sponsored campaign of violence.
In the first presidential election in March, Mr Tsvangirai gained more votes than Mr Mugabe, but official results say he did not pass the 50% threshold for outright victory.
Zimbabwe parties say reach power-sharing deal - via Reuters:
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s ruling party and the main opposition MDC have reached a power sharing deal, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and a government source said on Thursday.
South African President Thabo Mbeki has mediated in talks to end a political crisis after Mugabe’s re-election unopposed in a June presidential poll that was boycotted by Tsvangirai and condemned around the world.
“President Mbeki is going to give a press statement but I can say that we have got a deal,” Tsvangirai said as he left the venue of negotiations in the capital Harare.
A Zimbabwe government source also told Reuters: “They have reached some agreement, and President Mbeki, the mediator is going announce that very soon.”
Mugabe had earlier cast doubt on optimism that a deal was imminent, with his ruling ZANU-PF accusing the MDC of plotting with the West to strip him of executive powers in the talks.
But MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa dismissed the charges of collusion with Western countries, which have imposed sanctions on Mugabe and his inner circle to try to force change.
Tsvangirai, who won the initial election in March but failed to secure an outright victory, stayed away from the June election run-off vote over attacks on his supporters.
Zimbabweans hope a deal can allow the revival of an economy in meltdown. Inflation is over 11 million percent and severe food and fuel shortages have driven millions across the country’s borders, straining regional economies.
September 11th, 2008 22:09
I hope to God that’s going to work.
September 11th, 2008 22:13
Why wait until Monday? Is that to give Bob time to talk to JOC…? I won’t believe it until it happens, and I won’t celebrate until I see what’s been agreed!
September 11th, 2008 23:04
I’m still sceptical, but I hope to God I’m wrong…
Oh, and I hate that I have to wait until Monday to find out whether I can celebrate or not. Why the delay??
September 11th, 2008 23:17
Is this the way democracy works….sign a deal and THEN let the people know what has been signed away in their name?
I should reserve my judgment and speculations till monday, but I would very much suspect that the human rights abuses, murders and assininations implictly or tacitly executed by the grubby Mugabe hand will be swept under the carpet and become nothing more than collateral damage.
September 11th, 2008 23:46
Praying..
September 12th, 2008 00:16
agree with Malcolm…you can murder, rape, basically beat the hell out of the people and still have some hold on power. It is disgraceful. I shall fall off my seat if RM is only ceremonial…it won’t happen. We are in for some crazy parallel government trying to pass different laws ending in another stalemate…it may not get beyond day 1. And why?….because we leave Thabo Mbeki in charge of the negociations…
September 12th, 2008 03:29
I smell a rat, and it sure looks like Mbeki….
The only way a deal is ever going to work is if Tsvangirai is allowed to control 1 of the 2 armed bodies in Zimbabwe. He must control either the army or police.
If Comrade Mugabe retains control of both, the deal is no good.
Mbeki does not have the opposition’s interest in mind, the ANC has run South Africa into the ground…
September 12th, 2008 06:52
My gut tells me b—s—.
Five days is planty for Houdini Bob to cook up a plot
September 12th, 2008 08:04
“I would very much suspect that the human rights abuses, murders and assininations implictly or tacitly executed by the grubby Mugabe hand will be swept under the carpet and become nothing more than collateral damage.”
Yes, Malcolm, I share your above fears. If
(a) the opportunity has been lost for the perpetrators to at least be forced to make a full public confession in order to gain amnesty, and
(b) if we have lost the opporunity to take back ill-gotten gains which could be used to compensate the victims,
then the MDC will have betrayed the people, and the country will continue to suffer under future rulers who know they can exploit Zimbabwe’s rotten culture of impunity.
September 12th, 2008 08:14
I just heard Pieter Mulder of the Freedom Front describe the power sharing deal as “two elephants in one kraal”.
Why wait until Monday - what is supposed to happen? Mugabe sell this to the JOC and Mbeki try to sell it to the donor countries?
But let’s not carp, it’s the only even vaguely good news in weeks, and one way or the other Zimbabwe has to turn this corner.
I’m going to close my eyes and pretend I’m Eddie Cross. Yesss…that’s better.
September 12th, 2008 08:33
As long as Mugabe is still visible on the political landscape then not much will change especially on the economic side. Mugabe’s presence is a hindrance to democracy and economic development. Under whatever settlement, Mugabe will never give in on heading the security forces. The only solution for Zimbabwe by Zimbabweans (not only 4 pple, Mbeki, Mugabe, Tsvangirai, Mutambara) is a free and fair election conducted by SADC. That is the only way to get EVERYONE involved in the process.
The settlement shouldn’t be indefinite because we will later encounter a ZAPU & ZANU scenario.
September 12th, 2008 08:34
Well if ever the eyes were on a country, the time is now. What is the hold up to let us know the outcome ? Will the old man still be in charge of his cronies and all his evil deeds swept under the carpet ? i am cautiously optimistic, but pray this will be the new beginning we are all hoping for.
September 12th, 2008 14:59
Who will be in charge of the JOC?
September 12th, 2008 16:44
If Mugabe is in charge of any part of the state’s oppressive organisations such as army, police, JOC etc I wouldn’t give a single ngwee for the chances of success.
In fact I’ll be amazed if the agreement lasts until Monday let alone after Monday if Mugabe is given ANY powers at all.
I stick to my belief that Mugabe and his murderous henchmen will have to be forced out.
September 14th, 2008 02:28
I heard that the Zim army blokes are being gifted 4 x 4’s! This is just part of Mugabe keeping them on side if this is true.
This ‘Deal’ with the MDC it seems, is the only way Mugabe could gain some legitimacy and save himself.
Kofi Anan recognizes what happened in both elections was wrong and should not have been accepted.
But he is powerless to do anything.
And Mbeki is just finding a way to save face in SA by making out that he has achieved a breakthrough.
After hearing a Mutambara interview even he has a very nasty attitude, and I hope those in his faction know just where they stand.
Mugabe has smashed the country,killed and starved its people and honestly he is the last person who should have anything to do with Zimbabwe’s future.
He should not even be negotiated with.
Accepting this new evil mix only reflects a desperate hope amongst a beaten populace who are basically at the end of the line.
They can only pray.
September 15th, 2008 09:56
What gets to me is that everyone is now patting Mbeki on the back for all his “good work”. How soon we forget that he stodd by while we were dying (even went so far as to publicly deny there was a problem).