HARARE - International and regional pressure is mounting on beleaguered President Robert Mugabe (Pictured) to resolve the stand-off over outstanding issues that forced the Prime Minister to boycott government business.
Mozambique President Armando Guebezza, the new head of the SADC troika on Politics, Defence and Security and his deputy, King Mswati III of Swaziland, engaged Mugabe on the situation this week. Diplomatic sources said Guebuzza and Mswati were understood to have nudged Mugabe in their private conference call to confront the crisis in a manner that would not precipitate collapse.
They promised to offer a helping hand to their besieged counterpart, our source said. The intervention of the two heads of state coincided with the impending visit to Zimbabwe by the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Manfred Nowak next week.
SA very concerned
South Africa, which helped broker the power-sharing agreement, said it was “very concerned” about the latest developments in Zimbabwe. Sources said Thabo Mbeki, the former SA President who brokered the GNU, was expected to meet President Mugabe to discuss the way forward on the crisis. “We are aware that the SADC organ troika remains seized with the matter, and obviously from our side we urge the parties to recommit themselves to the letter and spirit of the GPA (Global Political Agreement) and move towards resolving outstanding issues,” spokesman for South Africa’s department of International Co-operation, Nomfanelo Kota, said.
He was responding to a question on what Zimbabwe should do to resolve the dispute, which has sparked the country’s biggest political crisis since the formation of the new administration in February this year. Meanwhile, Tsvangirai has launched a massive regional diplomatic offensive to throw the spotlight on the Zimbabwe crisis. On Monday he was in South Africa. On Tuesday he met Guebuza in Maputo, and proceeded to Kinshasa, the DRC capital for a meeting with President Joseph Kabila, who took the mantle as SADC chairman in August. In between his itinerary, Tsvangirai also met South Africa President Jacob Zuma and Jose Eduardo dos Santos of Angola.
Mugabes cold feet
Other teams would be dispatched to appraise other SADC and AU leaders, MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa told The Zimbabwean. “We are populating the corridors of SADC and AU as the guarantors of GPA,” Chamisa said. “We have a partner who is developing cold feet, reneging on commitments they made. They are running away from their signature.” Botswana President Ian Khama, who was declared winner of highly-contested presidential elections in his country weekend, has already indicated that if Zimbabwe’s power-sharing government collapses, his country would certainly not recognise a Zanu(PF)-only government or “certainly not one headed by President Robert Mugabe because he certainly did not win the presidential election last year.”
Post published in: News