Harare/Pretoria - Zimbabweans reacted sceptically Tuesday to
conflicting reports out of a Southern African summit about a possible
breakthrough in the four-month standoff between President Robert
Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
'It doesn't look good from here,' said John Makumbe, a political
scientist at the University of Harare in Zimbabwe. 'It appears
Tsvangirai came under extreme pressure to make concessions, and that
there was minimal pressure on Mugabe.
'We'll see when the MDC (Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic
Change) national executive meets at the weekend. They're likely to
throw out the whole thing,' Makumbe said.
Earlier, the MDC blasted as 'malicious' assurances given by
Zimbabwe's neighbours at the end of a 12-hour summit in South Africa
that the party had overcome its misgivings and agreed to join Mugabe
in a power-sharing government.
'It's completely malicious,' Joseph Mungwari, spokesman for
Tsvangirai told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
'There was no agreement,' Joseph Mungwari said. But in a statement
the MDC was much less emphatic, saying that while the outcome fell
'far short of our expectations,' the agreement would be put to the
party's top body.
After the talks between nine heads of state and government from
the 15-nation SADC and senior officials from the five other members,
SADC executive secretary Tomaz Salamao, reading from a communique,
said: 'the prime minister (Tsvangirai) and the deputy prime ministers
shall be sworn in by February 11, 2009.'
The swearing-in of ministers from Mugabe's Zanu-PF and two
factions of the MDC would take place two days later, ending the
process of the formation of the inclusive government, according to
SADC.
Remaining sticking points in the implementation of September's
power-sharing accord, which sees Mugabe remain president, would be
dealt with afterwards, SADC said.
When asked whether the MDC had agreed, South African President
Kgalema Motlanthe said: 'Yes, of course they will ensure that the
amendment 19 (that makes Tsvangirai prime minister) is enacted.'
Motlanthe also maintained that the MDC had given in to a SADC
proposal that it share control of the home affairs ministry with
Mugabe's Zanu-PF. The ministry was hotly disputed by the two.
Before the summit, the MDC had balked at Mugabe's proposal for the
distribution of cabinet posts between the parties. The MDC also been
demanding that dozens of its members that have been arbitrarily
detained or disappeared in recent months be released.
The extraordinary SADC summit, SADC's third such summit on
Zimbabwe in under a year, comes as Zimbabwe's health and economic
crises spill over into the region.
At least 33 people have died of cholera in South Africa in recent
months as sick, hungry Zimbabweans stream across the border.
Zimbabwe's own death toll is close to 3,000 since August, when the
outbreak began in crowded townships. Half the population of around 11
million requires food aid.
European Union slapped sanctions on more of his allies and allied
companies Monday, citing the regime's 'ongoing failure to address the
most basic economic and social needs of its people.'
Reacting to the summit outcome, Phillip Kwaragaza, a pastor, in
Harare said: 'Our president is too hard a nut for SADC to crack. SADC
cannot help. We now depend on God to intervene, like he did with the
Israelites.'
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