According to CNN, Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai– Zimbabwe’s President and Prime Minister, respectively– held a rare joint press conference Monday. As ONE Blog readers are probably aware, the two have a complicated political relationship, so this is an interesting development:
“We are different parties; we go at each other at party level. Yes. But let it not be said that we are dysfunctional, (that) we are at war. No,” said Mugabe, 86, defending an attack he made on Tsvangirai at a party conference over the weekend.
“This inclusive government will not collapse. We will make sure that it does not collapse,” said Tsvangirai, adding that there was a “camaraderie” with his former political enemy.
Over the weekend, Mugabe told his supporters that he was tired of working with Tsvangirai and wanted elections next year.
But after meeting with Tsvangirai and Mutambara, Mugabe said that the coalition had given Zimbabweans “a sense of togetherness.”
Both Mugabe and Tsvangirai said Zimbabweans would go to elections once a referendum for a new constitution has been held.
According to the AFP, Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai met with Secretary Clinton yesterday to “recognize that Zimbawe has made progress toward democracy as he appeared to suggest it ease sanctions”:
But there was no sign US President Barack Obama’s administration would ease sanctions targeted at President Robert Mugabe and his loyalists, the people with whom Tsvangirai has shared power uneasily for more than a year.
The United States — along with the European Union — maintains a travel ban and asset freeze on Mugabe, his wife and inner circle in protest at controversial elections and alleged human rights abuses by his government.
In an interview with AFP and another journalist, Tsvangirai appeared to make the case for at least an easing of US sanctions when he visited Washington for talks with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
He came “to update her on the latest situation in the country in terms of where the bottlenecks are, where progress has been made, and what the United States should do,” the premier said.
“There should be a recognition (by Washington) that there is progress, but (perception of) that progress may not be sufficient to convince the American government,” Tsvangirai said, referring to efforts to lift the sanctions.
Robert Mugabe marked Zimbabwe’s 30 years of independence from Britain today with a speech. CNN reports:
Mugabe’s speech at a rally Sunday was in addition to other festivities marking his three decades in power. Events included songs, dance and an all-night reggae concert in the capital, Harare.
He called on Zimbabweans to be tolerant, treat one another with dignity, and refrain from engaging in violence, big or small.
“Your leadership in the inclusive government urges you to desist from any acts of violence that will cause harm to others and become a blight on our society,” he said. “Don’t fight even over girlfriends. The country is full of beautiful women. If you can’t get one, come to Mugabe for assistance.”
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai also attended the rally but did not speak. Crowds erupted into cheers every time his face appeared on giant screens televising the event in the stadium.
Mugabe, 86, said he was committed to reform, and urged Zimbabweans to support a constitutional reform that would make way for fair elections in the future.
BBC reports that President Robert Mugabe has sworn in Zimbabwe’s first human rights and electoral commissions:
The creation of the two commissions is seen as crucial in moving the country towards free and fair elections.
The Human Rights Commission will be headed by a law professor and the Electoral Commission by a former judge.
This is a step towards implementing the power-sharing agreement between Mr Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, but others issues remain.
The Human Rights Commission will be chaired by Reginald Austin, a law professor and former head of the legal affairs division of the Commonwealth.
The head of the Electoral Commission will be former Zimbabwean Supreme Court judge, Simpson Mutambanengwe, who was serving as acting chief justice in the Namibian Supreme Court.
In yesterday’s presentation of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award to the women of WOZA, President Obama offered some sharp words for Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, as reported by the New York Times. In his remarks, President Obama said:
In the end, history has a clear direction and it is not the way of those who arrest women and babies for singing in the streets. It is not the way of those who starve and silence their own people, who cling to power by the threat of force.
Excerpts below, full New York Times account here
Mr. Obama’s decision to publicly recognize Women of Zimbabwe Arise, or Woza, whose members have taken to the streets for years to demand democracy, will probably confirm Mr. Mugabe’s belief that the United States and the West are out to topple him, already a recurrent theme in the state-run media he controls.
Though engaged in a power-sharing government since February, Mr. Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party have deployed state security forces to arrest and jail rival politicians and party workers, human rights lawyers and civic leaders.
Regional heads of state, worried that the government led by Mr. Mugabe and his nemesis, Morgan Tsvangirai, will crumble, have insisted the men settle their differences in coming weeks, but so far Mr. Mugabe has shown no inclination to bend.
The United States has limited political leverage in southern Africa, but Mr. Obama has repeatedly spoken out about Mr. Mugabe’s misrule — notably when he welcomed Mr. Tsvangirai to the White House in June, when he addressed the Ghanaian Parliament in July and in his remarks on Monday.
The New York Times and other media outlets are reporting that Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is openly boycotting cabinet meetings as a means of protesting President Robert Mugabe’s party. NYT characterizes this as the “biggest breach yet in the new transitional government.”
More details below, read the full report here:
The catalyst for this step was the jailing Wednesday of Roy Bennett, Mr. Tsvangirai’s deputy agriculture minister-designate, a white farmer who is scheduled to stand trial Monday on three-year-old terrorism charges that his party, the Movement for Democratic Change, says are fabricated. But even after Mr. Bennett was grantedbail Friday after the news conference, officials in his party said their decision to disengage did not change.
“This is the time for us to say enough is enough,” said Thabitha Khumalo, a spokeswoman for the M.D.C.
Mr. Tsvangirai laid out a broad array of grievances. He accused Mr. Mugabe’s party, ZANU-PF, of selectively using the law as a weapon to punish his parliamentarians, putting 16,000 of its youth militia on the government payroll, and remilitarizing the countryside on bases used in last year’s discredited election to organize a campaign of terror against his supporters.
While he stopped short of quitting the government, Mr. Tsvangirai warned that if the crisis were not resolved and a working relationship restored he would call for United Nations-supervised elections.
Today President Obama hosted Zimbabwe Prime Minister Tsvangirai at the White House to discuss the countries’ affairs. According to Politico magazine, during the meeting Obama pledged $73 million in assistance and said:
There was a time when Zimbabwe was the breadbasket of Africa and continues to have enormous potential. It has gone through a very dark and difficult period politically… President Mugabe—I think I’ve made my views clear—has often times not acted in the best interests of the Zimbabwean people and has been resistant to the kinds of democratic changes that need to take place. We now have a power-sharing agreement that shows promise.
-Chris Scott
