President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his
deputy Professor Arthur Mutambara have met five times since April 16 to
discuss outstanding issues from their global political agreement.
After another round of meetings on Monday and Tuesday, the parties had
not made any headway in resolving disputes over the appointment of
senior government employees, a new attorney general and a central bank
governor.
A fierce power struggle is now reportedly raging behind the scenes.
Sources close to the talks said the relationship between the coalition
partners had been further strained by the continued detention of
officials and activists from Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) on cooked up terrorism charges.
Mr Mugabe and the two MDC leaders, Mr Tsvangirai and Prof Mutambara are
also fighting over the 85 year-old leader's tendency to make crucial
policy decisions without consultations.
The sources said the problems intensified at the weekend when Finance
Minister Mr Tendai Biti returned home from World Bank and International
Monetary Fund (IMF) meetings empty handed.
Zimbabwe needs US$10 billion to fund its economic recovery but the
Bretton Woods institutions want to see evidence that the coalition will
work before committing themselves.
Tsvangirai and Mutambara are fast losing patience with Mugabe, said a
source in the unity government. It's now a matter of time before their
disagreements start playing out in the open.
Prof Mutambara whose small faction of the MDC is seen as sympathetic to
Zanu(PF) this week lashed out at Mr Mugabe saying the veteran leader was
not showing any commitment to the unity government.
Some of us are showing dubious commitment to the GPA, he said. When
we say we need to begin to work, they start fresh farm invasions."
Daily Nation
Post published in: News