SW Radio Africa (London)
3 December 2008
MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai has said the African Union should take over mediation of the country's power-sharing process from the Southern African Development Community, saying it has failed as an impartial regional deal-broker.
The MDC leader issued the call for the involvement of the AU in Senegal, after holding talks with President Abdoulaye Wade. Tsvangirai has been on a diplomatic offensive lately to pressure SADC to remove Mbeki as the mediator in the Zimbabwe crisis.
The three parties reached a landmark agreement in September on sharing power, but have been haggling over the implementation process. The allocation of government ministries is one of the major hurdles in efforts to sort out the power-sharing deal signed by Robert Mugabe and Tsvangirai. The deal allowed Mugabe to retain his office while making Tsvangirai the prime minister. Arthur Mutambara, head of the MDC splinter group, would become deputy prime minister.
An agreement to split cabinet posts between Mugabe's ZANU-PF and the MDC was brokered in September, but ran aground when Mugabe sabotaged the plan by allocating all key posts - especially those relating to security - to his own party.
Reports now say the main stumbling block is the allocation of the Home Affairs ministry, which SADC leaders last month ruled should be co-shared by both parties. An idea flatly rejected by the MDC.
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You give the JOKE of Zimbabwe too much credit, street cred: ANTECEDENT to the lesson in diplomatic protocol or horse sense, the sprinter should take FIRST ORDER LOGIC at the Ecole Normale or, if that proves too taxing, as most reasonable should assume, a Yankee community college MAY be just what the doctor of fools ordered.
Unfortunately there is truth in what you are saying. Tsvangirai has not shown the diplomatic skills that were needed of him.
What you are saying is not useful to the problems of Zimbabwe. You must be sitting pretty. What diplomacy do you need in challenging a court or similar decision in a case you think otherwise? With a judgement it's either you win or lose; if you lose you can challenge the judgement based on facts or point of law. Tsvangira is doing the right thing by challenging the decision of SADC and saying his true opinion about the leadership of that body. If the leadership of SADC had acted long ago a number of issues could have been brought under… [Read Full Text]
I believe you are making the error that Tsvangirayi and his MDC-T are making - treating SADC and AU or even the UN as if they are courts of law. They are not - they are just voluntary associations of sovereign countries. Their decisions are only binding to the extent that they are accepted by the people of Zimbabwe. The ordinary people in Zimbabwe represented by the majority (ZanuPF and MDC-M together represent more than 50% of the votes) accept the SADC decision. If Tsvangirayi and his MDC-T were democrats and diplomats they would have respected the decision of the… [Read Full Text]
Katz, Tsvangirai may not be the great diplomate, but I do admire his ability to talk about freedom and human rights. That said he has some communication issues and at times he seems to move forward in one way, then change course and then back again.
Tsvangirai needs support from others like Simba Makoni and others to help him shape a steady course. Most SADC leaders still have misgivings about him and his fight with Former President Mbheki has weakened him in some members of the ANC. That is why I feel strongly that the AU and UN should now… [Read Full Text]
Phiri - whilst I have the utmost admiration and respect for Morgan Tsvangirai's honesty, personal courage and tenacity, I suspect that he will turn out to be the Lech Walensa of Africa. Those admirable attributes that he possesses will see the eventual undoing of Mugabe and possibly we will see a ground swell of change in Angola, Gabon, CAE, etc as a result. However, Walensa was not the right man to bring Poland into the modern world; in the same way so many liberation leaders (Mugabe being one obvious example) make very poor peace time leaders. It will take a… [Read Full Text]
Tsvangirayi needs some basic lessons in diplomacy. After insulting SADC how does he hope to present his case to the AU when SADC is the only logical route to the AU? After all the chairman of AU is a member of SADC! And he plays these meaningless games while the people suffer - shame on him. When will he wake up to the obvious fact that he is the best placed person to resolve the crisis in Zimbabwe? After giving up the chance to be President, his next best chance is as Prime Minister. The Post of Zambia is correct… [Read Full Text]