SADC backs Mugabe
Southern African leaders said on Sunday that Zimbabwe’s political rivals must split the leadership of a the Home Affairs ministry, a move rejected by the MDC in a further sign that power-sharing talks were unravelling.
The 15-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) said in a resolution Zimbabwe’s squabbling political parties should form a unity government immediately to end a stalemate over the allocation of ministries.
But opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said he was “shocked and saddened” by the outcome of a summit, which brought together leaders and ministers of SADC countries for more than 12 hours of talks on Zimbabwe’s political impasse and the violence in eastern Congo.
“The MDC is shocked and saddened that SADC summit has failed to tackle these key issues … a great opportnity has been missed by SADC to bring an end to the Zimbabwean crisis,” Tsvangirai said at a post-summit news conference.
SADC said Tsvangirai did not agree with SADC’s call for his Movement for Democratic Change to co-manage Zimbabwe’s Home Affairs Ministry with President Robert Mugabe’s ruling ZANU-PF.
The resolution calling for joint control of the ministry — which controls Zimbabwe’s police and is the main sticking point in the talks — was backed by all 15 members of SADC, said Arthur Mutambara, leader of a breakaway MDC faction.
The SADC said a unity government must be formed.
“We need to form an inclusive government, today or tomorrow,” SADC Executive Secretary Tomaz Salamao told reporters late on Sunday night after the summit in South Africa.
“… SADC was asked to rule and SADC took a decision and that’s the position of SADC. Now it’s up to the parties to implement,” he said.
In a speech to regional heads of state, Tsvangirai suggested his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) would only accept a comprehensive agreement that gives his party a fair share of powerful ministries. “Only a genuine power-sharing arrangement will allow the MDC to join a new government because that is our mandate from the people of Zimbabwe and we cannot and will not betray their hopes and dreams for a better future,” he is reported to have said in the speech.
Posted by Wellington Chadehumbe
on November 10, 2008. Filed under Local News.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Socialize
Recent Comments