PM set to rile Mugabe with refusal to back sanctions call

Published on Wednesday 7 October 2009 22:00

ZIMBABWE'S prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai has stopped short of calling for the removal of international sanctions against president Robert Mugabe and his allies, in a move likely to inflame tensions within the already fragile coalition government.

He called instead for "a process of dialogue" and suggested Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party was blocking progress on the country's coalition deal.

Mr Mugabe, 85, claims Mr Tsvangirai has reneged on the nine-month old power-sharing agreement by failing to get European Union and United States sanctions lifted.

But Mr Tsvangirai said:

"I think my party, the MDC, have fulfilled our part of the bargain. It's the others, Zanu-PF, who are still reluctant to go all the way.

"One can understand the fear of losing control, losing the monopoly of power, and sometimes I think that influences their decisions."

The EU imposed travel bans and asset freezes on Mr Mugabe and dozens of officials linked to his regime in 2002, nearly two years after the former guerrilla leader sent bands of war veterans on to white-owned farms. The US imposed its own targeted sanctions in 2003. Mr Mugabe blames those sanctions for Zimbabwe's economic crisis, that saw inflation soar to 230 million per cent last year.

An EU delegation that visited Harare last month said it wanted to see more progress on sticking points in the power-sharing agreement before reconsidering the sanctions.

Life for many Zimbabweans has improved since the coalition government was formed in February. Bread, eggs, milk and meat can be bought in supermarkets, and fuel is available – such commodities were in short supply for much of the past decade. Banks now dispense battered US dollar bills rather than trillions of Zimbabwean bearer cheques.

Police officers renowned for their brutal repression of the MDC are being trained in human rights, according to reports .

But change hasn't come to everything. Low salaries – teachers are paid less than 100 – mean many cannot afford goods on sale. Shoppers can't get change: a shortage of coins means they have to take their money in sweets, pens or bubble gum. Parents are withdrawing children from O– and A-level classes as they can't afford the exam fees.

However, in an apparent gesture of conciliation, Mr Tsvangirai has agreed to have a portrait of Mr Mugabe – who ordered the then opposition leader to be brutally beaten at a prayer rally in 2007 – in his office.

"I would not have stayed with him if I thought he was there to cheat and undermine the progress we're making," he said.

"I hope we can remove the fear, intimidation and the violence that have characterised our elections for the past ten years."