Zimbabwe rivals fail to break political deadlock ahead of African crisis talks

Published on Saturday 24 January 2009 18:46

ZIMBABWE'S rival political leaders failed again last week to break their deadlock over power-sharing, and hopes are dim that an emergency regional summit on the crisis will do any better.

The wrangling keeps politicians from grappling with Zimbabwe's dizzying economic decline. That means more death from disease and hunger in a nation that once exported grain and boasted health, sanitation and education systems that were the envy of its neighbours in southern Africa.

Leaders of the Southern African Development Community nations will discuss the crisis tomorrow, but they are unlikely to do more than make their usual call for President Robert Mugabe and his main rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, to implement a power-sharing agreement reached last September.

In their latest face-to-face meeting, Mugabe and Tsvangirai remained at an impasse after talks that stretched from Monday afternoon into the early hours of Tuesday. Since then, Zimbabwe's factions have only hardened their positions.

Mugabe, who has been in power since 1980, says Tsvangirai should join him in a unity government and work out any reservations later. Tsvangirai refuses to enter a government before attacks on his supporters end and until he is assured members of his party will have an equal share of key government posts.

Zimbabwe has been virtually leaderless since an inconclusive presidential election last March. The power-sharing deal was signed amid great fanfare and high expectations in September, but questions were raised almost immediately about whether it could work.

Some of Tsvangirai's allies say he should never have agreed to serve as prime minister in a government that left Mugabe as president. Mugabe, meanwhile, is being held back by allies who don't want to give up power to the opposition.

Tsvangirai won more votes than Mugabe in the opening round of presidential balloting nearly a year ago, but he pulled out of a June run-off because of violence aimed at opposition supporters.

He has little reason to trust Mugabe, who is accused of overseeing Zimbabwe's decline, trampling on democratic rights and killing opponents.

Mugabe, who turns 85 next month, has shown little respect for Tsvangirai, calling him a puppet of the West and repeatedly pointing to the much younger union leader's lack of experience fighting colonialism.

The opposition says Mugabe is engaging in "hate speech" by trying to tie the president's foes to white-ruled nations and has included the halting of such rhetoric in a list of demands that must be met before it joins any unity government.

Tsvangirai, visiting a cholera clinic on Thursday, said he was sticking to his conditions. He said the regional leaders meeting tomorrow in Pretoria "should not be arm-twisted by Mugabe".

The opposition wants the Zimbabwe issue handed over to others – perhaps the African Union or a special UN envoy.

Neighbouring leaders have hinted they are losing patience with Mugabe, and a logical next step would be to move the discussion to the larger African forum.

But Mugabe may not wait. He could unilaterally name a government, freezing the opposition out of the Cabinet. That would mean more impasse, because the opposition dominates parliament, and it could spark street protests.

The only certainty is more uncertainty – and more misery for ordinary Zimbabweans.