Mbeki called in after new deadlock
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com
September 30, 2008
HARARE (AFP) - President Robert Mugabe and opposition MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai met Tuesday but failed to agree on a share-out of ministries
in a power-sharing government, the opposition said.
MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa told AFP that the deadlock had been
referred back to former South African president Thabo Mbeki who
mediated the agreement signed earlier this month.
"As MDC, we refuse to be junior partners in the inclusive government,"
Chamisa said. "Any power-sharing is supposed to be a partner****p of
equals.
As a result of this there has been a deadlock. The matter has been
referred to the mediator."
Arthur Mutambara, the leader of a faction of the MDC and a signatory to
the power sharing agreement did not attend the meeting after he was
caught up in floods and his flight was cancelled in China, a party
official said.
He was in China for the World Young Leaders Forum and should have flown
to Zimbabwe on Sunday.
The standoff follows Mugabe's claim on Monday that a new government
would be formed by the end of the week.
"Unfortunately, there has not been any movement on the part of Zanu-PF
who are insisting on taking all the powerful ministries against the
spirit of a power-sharing agreement," said Chamisa.
A source close to the negotiations said the standoff was over the local
government, home affairs, foreign affairs and finance ministries.
"We are hoping that SADC (Southern African Development Community) who
are the guarantors of this deal and the AU (African Union) will help us
resolve this matter," said Chamisa.
The situation in the country was dire, he said.
On Monday, Mugabe said four ministries remained to be allocated and
denied there was a deadlock.
"We will be setting up government by the end of the week," Mugabe said
on his return from the United Nations general assembly meeting in New
York.
"We never said there was a deadlock."
Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara agreed on September 15 to a landmark
power-sharing agreement.
Under the agreement, Mugabe will remain as head of state after nearly
three decades in power while Tsvangirai is to take up a new post of
prime minister.
The deal brokered by Mbeki was heralded as a historic initiative to
resolve Zimbabwe's political deadlock and economic melt-down.
Once one of Africa's most prosperous countries, Zimbabwe now suffers
the world's highest rate of inflation, last estimated at 11.2 million
percent, leaving 80 percent of the population living in poverty.
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