Zim rivals in urgent new talks
by Muchena Zigomo
2008-11-25 07:44
Johannesburg - Zimbabwe's political rivals
meet in South Africa on Tuesday for talks to end a political
deadlock, amid mounting pressure from regional leaders for a
deal to prevent the humanitarian crisis becoming still worse.
Negotiators from President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF
party, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change and a
breakaway MDC faction will meet former South African President
Thabo Mbeki to discuss a draft constitutional amendment paving
the way for a new government.
Mbeki has been reviewing the draft law, which many in the
southern African country hope will usher in a new government to
end a crippling economic crisis that has seen inflation soar to
more than 230 million percent.
The MDC has refused to enter government, accusing Zanu-PF of
trying to take the most powerful ministries and freeze it out,
violating a September 15 power-sharing deal.
Economic collapse
Talks on forming a
cabinet have been deadlocked for two months.
The power-sharing agreement may unravel if Mugabe names a
cabinet without MDC agreement, jeopardising what is seen as the
best chance of reversing a decade of gradual economic collapse.
The MDC had threatened to boycott Tuesday's meeting, but
said on Monday it would attend the talks and aim to address all
the issues stalling an agreement.
"Our team, consistent with the duty and obligation to
represent the people, will attend tomorrow's meeting in South
Africa," spokesperson Nelson Chamisa told Reuters.
"We will not accept any parochial and reductionist approach
that seeks to impose only one item, the constitutional amendment
on us. We all know there is a basket of issues that have to be
tackled collectively."
Humanitarian disaster
Pressure has grown from regional leaders and international
aid agencies for an end to the political stalemate, which has
created a huge humanitarian crisis.
Chronic food shortages and hyperinflation have led millions
of Zimbabweans to flee their country. A cholera epidemic has
killed nearly 300 people and sent hundreds into South Africa to
seek treatment.
Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and other prominent
world figures described Zimbabwe on Monday as close to a
humanitarian disaster.
Annan urged Southern African Development Community leaders
to put more pressure on Mugabe and the MDC to break the impasse.
"SADC must bring its full weight to bear," Annan, flanked by
former US President Jimmy Carter and human rights campaigner
Graca Machel, wife of Nelson Mandela, told a news conference.
The three, part of a group called the Elders, were barred
from entering Zimbabwe last weekend on a humanitarian visit.
Once-prosperous nation
The
government said the trip was unnecessary and denied them visas.
Carter said the crisis was worse than he had imagined and he
felt southern African leaders did not fully understand the
extent of the misery in the once-prosperous nation.
He said the United Nations, African Union and SADC should
send teams into Zimbabwe to report on the crisis properly.
South African ruling ANC party leader Jacob Zuma and
President Kgalema Motlanthe have urged a quick end to the
crisis.
"The situation has just gone beyond a situation where we
could say 'wait and see,'" Zuma told reporters on Monday, saying
the Elders had told him Zimbabwe could be months from collapse.
South Africa's cabinet said last week it would hold back R300m earmarked for agricultural aid to
Zimbabwe until a representative government was in place.
Many critics accuse Mugabe, in power since independence from
Britain in 1980, of ruining the country through his
controversial policies.
Mugabe, 84, says forces opposed to his
nationalist stance have sabotaged the economy.