Links ~ 14 October 2008
October 14th, 2008
Mbeki ‘sure’ of Zimbabwe progress ~ BBC (UK)
South Africa’s ex-President Thabo Mbeki is confident he will be able to salvage Zimbabwe’s power-sharing deal in talks in Harare, his spokesman says. “We are convinced that we should be able in the end, no matter how long it takes, to reach a conclusion,” he said. Negotiations stalled after President Robert Mugabe allocated key ministries to his Zanu-PF party at the weekend. Mr Mbeki is to hold talks in the morning, before parliament meets for the first time since MPs were sworn in.
Zim needs a firm approach ~ Daily Dispatch (SA)
Former president Thabo Mbeki has returned to public life – three weeks after being dumped as leader of this country. Mbeki returned to Zimbabwe yesterday in an attempt to rescue the power-sharing deal brokered last month. But, commentators are sceptical whether Mbeki will have much sway over an obstinate Robert Mugabe who has unilaterally decided on the division of Cabinet posts. When Mbeki brokered the deal, it was after years of criticism that his route of “quiet diplomacy†had played into President Mugabe’s hands and that Zimbabwe needed a firmer approach. But, at least then Mbeki was still president of South Africa and his ability to negotiate was underscored by his status. Now he is a private citizen without the clout of being president of one of Africa’s most powerful nations.
Zimbabwe opposition doubts ZANU-PF will compromise ~ Reuters
Zimbabwe’s opposition MDC expressed doubt on Monday that the ruling ZANU-PF will compromise in talks on forming a cabinet despite mediation by former South African President Thabo Mbeki. Mbeki’s visit on Monday comes after President Robert Mugabe allocated a number of important ministries to his own party, angering the MDC. “The visit provides a platform and opportunity for ZANU-PF to reverse its unilateral action,” MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said. “The ZANU-PF mindset is not consistent with power-sharing. It cannot be power-sharing when one party controls all key ministries.”
EU warns could step up Zimbabwe sanctions ~ Reuters
The European Union could step up sanctions on Zimbabwe unless President Robert Mugabe adheres to the terms of a power-sharing accord, EU president France warned on Monday. “If the agreement is not applied we shall resume our sanctions and reinforce them,” French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told a news conference after Mugabe angered the opposition by allocating important ministries to his ZANU-PF party at the weekend.
Aid agencies: 5m face starvation in Zimbabwe ~ The Times (UK)
Death is stalking Zimbabwe’s children, as a potentially catastrophic famine gathers momentum. Aid agencies say that half the population, about five million people, face starvation, two-thirds of children are out of school and water shortages have led to deadly cholera outbreaks.The Times went on a 600-mile (965km)journey through the eastern province of Manicaland and discovered a country whose reserves of food are exhausted and where the diseases of hunger — kwashiorkor, marasmus and pellagra — are appearing to a degree never seen in the country before.
How do you rein in 231 million percent inflation? ~ IRIN
[...] Hanke contends in the UNDP discussion document that, should there be a political settlement in Zimbabwe, the new government has three options to consider: dollarisation, free banking, or a currency board, all of which have their pros and cons. Dollarisation or randisation – the rand is the monetary unit of South Africa, Zimbabwe’s neighbour and the continent’s economic powerhouse – would entail one of the foreign currencies being made legal tender instead of the Zimbabwe dollar, which would die a natural death. However, the new government would “no longer have an independent monetary policy and set their own interest rates, but must ‘import’ the monetary policy of the country whose currency is chosen,” Hanke said in the discussion document. A second consideration is “free banking”, used in colonial Southern Rhodesia until 1940, in which private commercial banks issued currency notes with ‘minimal regulation’. The third consideration is a currency board, which would mean holding “foreign reserves equal to 100 percent of the domestic money supply determined at a fixed exchange rate … as a result, money supply, and thereby interest rates, are determined ‘entirely by market forces’.”
