Fresh push to break Zim impasse
2009-11-02 22:25
Special Report
Zimbabwe's energy minister has warned the country risks losing electricity imports from its major supplier if it fails to pay a $90m debt to Mozambique's Hydro Cahora Bassa dam.
A dusty road leads to the village of Wedza, where veterans of Zimbabwe's liberation war eke out a meagre living on their farm cooperative, which after a promising start now brings only despair.
Harare - Zimbabwe's neighbours on Monday intensified efforts to break an impasse threatening a fragile unity government, as Congolese leader Joseph Kabila met with feuding leaders and a new summit was set for this week.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai suspended co-operation with long-ruling President Robert Mugabe more than two weeks ago, accusing the 85-year-old leader of failing to live up to his side of Zimbabwe's power-sharing deal.
The deadlock has heightened fears about the fate of the unity accord, which was meant to end deadly political violence that erupted after last year's failed presidential elections.
Kabila, who currently heads the Southern African Development Community (SADC), flew to Harare late on Sunday and met Mugabe on Monday for more than four hours before starting talks with Tsvangirai in the evening.
Positive talks
"I have just had a positive discussion with President Mugabe. He tells me the situation has improved and (he) is working on consolidating the economy," Kabila told journalists.
The DR Congo leader has insisted that both parties must respect the unity deal, which was brokered by the 15-nation regional bloc.
"There is a problem within the Zimbabwe government, that is a fact. But the situation has not gotten out of hand," Kabila said on Friday.
"As the region we believe that the agreement signed last year is still binding. Any amendments must be made within the framework of that agreement," said Kabila.
'MDC untrustworthy'
SADC's security troika sent a team of mediators to Zimbabwe last week, but the talks resulted only in new recriminations, with Mugabe saying Tsvangirai's party was untrustworthy.
"They can never be true and genuine partners and they have proved to be dishonest," Mugabe said.
"I took this opportunity to explain to him our current situation and he was willing to listen," the long-ruling leader said on Monday after the meeting with Kabila.
"He will listen to what he regards as a mix of progress," veteran leader Mugabe predicted about Kabila's response to a special SADC meeting called on Zimbabwe for Thursday in neighbouring Mozambique.
"He will say at the same time, you are grown-ups, intelligent people. You went into the inclusive government knowing the handicap. Why don't you sit down and discuss them rather than run away from them."
Mozambique, head of the security body, announced that it would convene a special summit on Thursday with fellow troika members Swaziland and Zambia to make a new push for a resolution in Zimbabwe.
Months of bickering
The stalemate in Harare comes after months of bickering over the unity deal.
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says that party supporters remain the target of arrests and intimidation, despite guarantees of political freedoms under the unity deal.
The MDC also insists that the government must replace the attorney general and the central bank governor, who is blamed for the hyperinflation that caused the collapse of the local currency.
But Tsvangirai only suspended co-operation with Mugabe after Roy Bennett, nominee for deputy agriculture minister, was again arrested on terror charges in mid-October, in a case that has become a symbol of the government's unresolved challenges.
For its part, Mugabe's party accuses the MDC of failing to lobby Western nations for the lifting of a travel ban and asset freeze on the president and about 200 of his family members and allies.
The unity government is meant to draft a new constitution that would pave the way for fresh elections, and regional leaders are eager for the deal to hold.
- AFP