After 30 years of absolute power, opposition will finally have a voice in the troubled African state
Mugabe power-share deal to save Zimbabwe from ‘abyss’
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Zimbabwe’s president Robert Mugabe signed a power-sharing deal with opposition leaders yesterday amid hopes it will help end the country’s descent into economic and political chaos.
Under the agreement he will lose some of the absolute power he has wielded for nearly 30 years.
Mr Mugabe will be president in the new government, while main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai is prime minister. A smaller opposition group’s leader Arthur Mutambara is deputy prime minister. The deal is the result of three months of difficult negotiations mediated by South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki at the request of the Southern African Development Community.
“We have to walk the same route the same way,” Mr Mugabe said in a speech after the signing ceremony, which was attended by leaders of the 14-member regional bloc and of the African Union.
“Are we beginning today? No. We have been walking the same route without knowing it, or not recognising each other. After all, we are all Zimbabweans and is there any other road, any other route to follow? History makes us walk the same route,” he said
In his speech Mr Tsvangirai said: “Our nation looks towards us . . . to deliver on the commitments contained in this agreement.”
Mr Tsvangirai said Zimbabweans faced the option of uniting the country and moving forward or letting the impasse “plunge our country into the abyss of a failed state.”
He saluted members of parliament for their willingness to work across party lines. “If you were my enemy yesterday, today we are bound by the same patriotic duty and destiny,” he said.
He called for them to be “driven by the hope of a new, better, brighter country” and the “hope of a new beginning.”
Thousands of supporters of the two men gathered to celebrate, waving posters, chanting slogans and singing songs. Mr Mugabe’s supporters lifted their fists in the air in his party’s salute; Mr Tsvangirai’s waved an open hand.
Mr Mbeki and Mr Tsvangirai announced a deal late last Thursday, without providing details before yesterday’s signing. Members of the opposition gave the broad outlines on Friday, and Zimbabwean state radio confirmed their version yesterday. They said the agreement calls for a Cabinet with 31 members; 16 from the opposition and 15 from Mr Mugabe’s party. That would acknowledge Mr Mugabe’s party – accused of holding power through violence and fraud and ruining the economy – no longer has the public support it once had.
Mr Mugabe would remain president and chairman of the Cabinet, with Mr Tsvangirai as vice-chairman. Mr Tsvangirai would head a new Council of Ministers that will supervise the work of the Cabinet.
The European Union welcomed the deal, but foreign policy chief Javier Solana said officials would probably wait until next month to consider lifting sanctions.
