Johannesburg - Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai on Sunday rejected a proposal by the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) to share control of the disputed Home
Affairs Ministry with President Robert Mugabe.
In a 'poisoned' atmosphere like that currently between
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and Mugabe's Zanu-
PF, 'quite clearly the concept of co-ministering cannot work,'
Tsvangirai said.
The party remains committed to a September 15 agreement to form a
unity government with Mugabe, he said.
An emergency SADC summit on Zimbabwe ended earlier with a call on
Mugabe's Zanu-PF and Tsvangirai's MDC to share control of home
affairs - a hotly-disputed ministry, which brings with it control of
the police and the government's electoral machinery.
'Whether the parties agree or not, that is the position of
summit,' SADC executive secretary Tomaz Salamao said.
Sunday's summit was seen as a chance to inject new life into
Zimbabwe's rocky power-sharing deal.
Under the terms of that agreement, which Zimbabweans are hoping
will kickstart the country's economic and political revival, Mugabe
remains president and Tsvangirai becomes prime minister of a
government of 31 ministries.
But the deal has stalled for two months on the issue of the
distribution of cabinet posts.
The MDC insists on having full control of the Home Affairs
Ministry, among others, in return for allowing Zanu-PF to retain
defence, which includes control of the Army.
Tsvangirai accused Zimbabwe's neighbours of not having 'the
courage and decency of looking Mr Mugabe in the eyes and telling him
his position was wrong.'
The MDC also laid down as a precondition for the new government
the passing of a constitutional amendment that will set out the
division of powers between Mugabe and Tsvangirai. In particular, the
party is looking for clarity on which leader would have the authority
to hire and fire ministers.
In a hint at the party's growing sense of isolation, the MDC's
position was less hardline than in previous days when it described
the unity deal as a 'corpse.'
The party, which has few backers within SADC, apart from Botswana,
Zambia and Tanzania, hoped that 'progressive members of SADC and the
African Union' would rally to their side and try to salvage the
agreement, Tsvangirai said.
Arthur Mutambara, leader of an offshoot MDC faction that is also a
party to the unity deal, has sided with Mugabe in the dispute over
home affairs.
'This agreement is as good as it gets,' Mutambara said.
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