Zanu PF, MDC set up joint power-sharing committee

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• Document: SADC communique on Zimbabwe - January 26-26, 2009

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• Analysis: No easy options for Tsvangirai

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• SADC summit unlikely to break deadlock

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• Document: Tsvangirai MDC reveals ministerial demands

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• Alfi Nyoni: Why Tsvangirai must join government

Posted to the web: 30/01/2009 11:29:12
ZIMBABWE’S ruling Zanu PF and the opposition have set up a joint committee to monitor a September power-sharing pact, a sign that the political rivals could be close to implementing it.

"It is the first structure to be formed in terms of the global political agreement and demonstrates the commitment of the parties to ensure that what they agreed to does come to pass," South African mediator Sydney Mufamadi said at the launch of the committee on Friday.

The national council of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by Morgan Tsvangirai was expected to endorse a timetable set by regional leaders for the formation of a unity government later Friday.

Regional leaders at a summit in South Africa on Tuesday laid out a timeline for Tsvangirai to join a unity government by February 13 after a four-month standoff with Mugabe over the allocation of ministries.

Negotiators from Mugabe's Zanu PF, Tsvangirai’s MDC and a rival MDC faction led by Arthur Mutambara were meeting early Friday to try to iron out details of the power sharing plan.

The negotiators will come up with some formula over how the parties share the posts of provincial governors, ambassadors, permanent secretaries and a decision on executive appointments made by Mugabe since September.

Zimbabwe has been frozen in an economic and political paralysis since disputed elections last March. With the economy going through its worst patch in history, economists and political commentators say only political stability can halt the slide and reverse a decade-long recession.
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