Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara sign power sharing deal

• Mugabe and opposition to sign opower sharing deal

• What chance of quick Zimbabwe turnaround?

• Timeline of Zimbabwe crisis since March 29

• What they said about Zimbabwe deal

• What they said about Zimbabwe deal

• Mbeki announces deal, calls for international support

• Mbeki's 'twin cabinet' plan has Mugabe on the backfoot

• DOCUMENTS: The power-sharing document Tsvangirai refuses to sign

• Text: Memorandum of Understanding between Zanu PF and MDC

Posted to the web: 15/09/2008 15:18:00
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe relaxed his iron hold on Zimbabwe for the first time in nearly three decades of one-man rule on Monday, forced by escalating economic chaos into sharing power with his bitter political rivals.

Thousands of cheering supporters from both Mugabe’s Zanu PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) forced their way into the grounds of a Harare hotel where the power sharing deal signing was taking place. Present were several African leaders.

Main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said the deal was a “product of painful compromises”.

“The road ahead is long, and will not be easy. All we can do, and will do, is work together,” said Tsvangirai, who is earmarked for a Prime Minister’s position under the settlement.

Pledging to work towards the revival of the country’s economy and restoring a crumbling health infrastructure, Tsvangirai added: “If you were my enemy yesterday, today we are bound by the same patriotic duty and destiny.”

Arthur Mutambara, leader of a rival MDC faction who also signed the agreement said the deal had “flaws, warts-and-all”, but conceded it was the “best short term measure to extricate our country from its worst situation”.

“We have people who are going to work together, who were enemies with each other,” Mutambara said. “This government has to take painful decisions to drive this country forward. There is no longer a ruling party, no longer an opposition party, we are now are now cooperating partners.”

Mugabe – whose rule has been uninterrupted for 28 years -- stepped up to the rostrum last. He called on Tsvangirai and Mutambara to be his “allies”.

“Let us be allies,” he said. “People will want to see if what we promise is indeed what we strive to do ... We are committed, I am committed, let us all be committed.”

He added: “We have to walk the same route the same way. 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."

Returning to a familiar theme, Mugabe took aim at Britain and America, accusing the two countries of leading an international alliance to sabotage his country’s economy and fuelling public disaffection with the government.

“The problem that we have now is a problem that has been created by a former colonial power wanting to continue to interfere in our domestic affairs. Zimbabwe’s land belongs to Zimbabweans,” Mugabe said, his voice rising.

“They interfered with our processes; they wanted to reverse them and still want to reverse them. They (Britain) spoke of regime change and they are still speaking of it. They imposed sanctions. We had not attacked Britain; we had not done anything to Britain. We had not attacked America. Why, why, why? Why the hand of the Americans here? Let us ask that.”

South African President Thabo Mbeki said the power sharing agreement was clear evidence that “as a continent, we are quite capable of taking care of our problems”.

Mbeki, the Southern African Development Community (SADC)’s appointed mediator in Zimbabwe, called on African leaders to immediately provide help to Zimbabwe ahead of the new planting season.

“The rains are about to start, so the time to put the seeds in the soil is very close, but we must get the seeds, we must get the fertiliser, we must get the fuel, we must get the implements as a matter of urgency,” Mbeki said to applause. “I am quite certain as a region and a continent we can do that.”

Long-simmering and bitter differences between the two sides and the nation's worsening economic collapse are expected to put the power-sharing deal under intense pressure.

Mugabe, 84, has been in power since independence in 1980 went from being praised as an independence hero to being vilified as an autocrat. He and Tsvangirai, 56, have been enemies for a decade, and Tsvangirai has been jailed, beaten, tortured and tried for treason — charges that were dismissed in court.

The deal is the result of more than two months of difficult negotiations mediated by Mbeki. Mbeki said Mugabe would remain President; Tsvangirai would be Prime Minister and Mutambara Deputy Prime Minister.

While details of the deal were not immediately made public, officials from the rival camps have said in recent days that it laid out a complicated arrangement with Mugabe chairing the Cabinet and Tsvangirai heading a new Council of Ministers that will supervise the work of the Cabinet.

Western nations whose aid and investment could mean the difference between the success or failure of the unity experiment were cautious.

The European Union welcomed the deal Monday, but officials said it was still too earlier to ease sanctions against Mugabe.

Millions of dollars in Western aid is expected, if Mugabe proves genuine about sharing power and beginning to end Zimbabwe's economic and political crisis.

Britain, one of the strongest critics of Mugabe, is expected to offer some immediate humanitarian aid to Zimbabwe following the agreement between Mugabe and Tsvangirai. But officials said Britain will first assess how the coalition is working.

"We hope that the new government will now reverse the tragic policies and decline of recent years," British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said in a statement Monday. "The new government needs to start to rebuild the country. If it does so, Britain and the rest of the international community will be quick to support them."

In March's presidential polling, Tsvangirai won the most votes, but not enough to avoid a runoff against Mugabe. An onslaught of state-sponsored violence against Tsvangirai's supporters led him to drop out of the presidential runoff and Mugabe was declared the overwhelming winner of the second vote widely denounced as a sham. - Staff Reporters/AP
JOIN THE DEBATE ON THIS ARTICLE ON THE NEWZIMBABWE.COM FORUMS
newsdesk@newzimbabwe.com