MDC to join unity government

• Zanu PF, MDC factions set up joint power sharing committee

• Botswana closes ranks with SADC on Zim

• Top MDC official says Tsvangirai will go into government 'next week'

• Mugabe hopes unity government will open 'new chapter'

• Tsvangirai, Biti at war over unity government

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

• SADC leaders claim breakthrough, MDC says no deal

• SA police charge MDC over illegal protest

• Khathu Mamaila: Stalling may no longer be an option for Tsvangirai

• Analysis: No easy options for Tsvangirai

• Mugabe, Tsvangirai in private meeting

• Tsvangirai hopeful of breakthrough at summit

• South Africa to host new Zimbabwe summit

• SADC summit unlikely to break deadlock

• 'Sad day' as Mugabe, Tsvangirai fail to agree on power sharing

• Compared: Tsvangirai and Mugabe's ministerial wish lists

• Document: Tsvangirai MDC reveals ministerial demands

• US, UK plans to torpedo unity government draw fire

• US withdraws support for unity government

• Alfi Nyoni: Why Tsvangirai must join government

By Nelson Banya
Posted to the web: 30/01/2009 12:33:12
ZIMBABWE'S opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has committed itself to forming a unity government with President Robert Mugabe, party leader Morgan Tsvangirai said on Friday, ending a paralysing deadlock that deepened an economic crisis.

Tsvangirai made the announcement after a meeting of the MDC's decision-making National Council.

"We are going into this government. That is what the council has decided," Tsvangirai, who is set to become Prime Minister, told reporters.

The decision will increase Zimbabwe's chances of recovering from economic collapse and easing a humanitarian crisis in which more than 60,000 people have been infected by cholera and more than half the population needs food aid.

Zimbabweans have been longing for a new leadership that can ease the world's highest inflation rate and severe food, fuel and foreign currency shortages. Millions have fled the suffering to neighboring countries, straining regional economies.

Western aid and financial assistance tied to the creation of a democratic government and economic reform will be crucial to rescuing what was once one of Africa's most promising countries.

"Without the support of those governments, the deal will have major difficulties in really opening the way for a turnaround of the situation in Zimbabwe," said Mike Davies, Middle East and Africa expert at risk analysts Eurasia Group.

With the local currency almost worthless and the world's highest inflation rate, the government announced on Thursday it would let Zimbabweans use foreign currencies.

Zimbabwe's recovery may depend on whether Tsvangirai can work with Mugabe, a master political tactician in power since 1980, who has defied Western sanctions and resisted growing calls to step down.

"I think that it is a clever and strategic decision. There are, however, challenges facing the MDC," said Adam Habib, political analyst at the University of Johannesburg.

"They have to make sure they can engage in a way that allows them to achieve what they want and that means they have to learn how to engage Mugabe and the people around him," he said.

Regional leaders had piled pressure on both sides to implement the power-sharing deal they signed in September and South African President Kgalema Motlanthe said on Friday his country was ready to help rebuild Zimbabwe once that happened.

"This stage is really critical in terms of achieving political stability and the first step towards the economic recovery of that country," Motlanthe told Reuters at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos.

The September 15 power-sharing agreement has been stalled by a dispute over control of key cabinet positions. Tsvangirai's party feared being sidelined in a joint administration. The country was effectively operating without a government. - Reuters
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