Robert Mugabe
By: Stephen Kaufman
Allafrica.com
The Bush administration wants Zimbabwe’s neighbors to step up pressure on President Robert Mugabe to share power with the country’s political opposition. The United States has warned that it might impose additional sanctions if Mugabe fails to fulfill the agreement he signed with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said October 21 that the United States is “looking for all of Zimbabwe’s neighbors and then the other interested countries in the international system to apply the pressure required to have President Mugabe live up to the agreement that he signed on to.”
Under the agreement, signed September 15, Mugabe would remain president, but Tsvangirai, who heads the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), would become prime minister and Zimbabwe’s Cabinet positions would be divided between the MDC and Mugabe’s ruling Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF).
Discussions have broken down over ZANU-PF’s attempts to award itself control of all the key ministries and the government’s failure to return Tsvangirai’s passport so he can participate in further discussions in neighboring Swaziland.
South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC) leader, Jacob Zuma, met with both Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley in Washington on October 21.
McCormack said South Africa “has been deeply involved in trying to resolve the crisis in Zimbabwe.”
Following his meeting with Secretary Rice, Zuma told Reuters they had discussed Zimbabwe’s political crisis and agreed that “a quicker solution to Zimbabwe is desirable for the sake of the Zimbabwean people and their country.”
“We also agreed that Zimbabwean leaders should be urged to complete the package which is already on the table so that it is implemented for the sake of the Zimbabwean people,” he said.
The ANC also is urging ZANU-PF and the MDC “to find a solution,” Zuma said.
Deputy State Department spokesman Robert Wood told reporters October 20 that the United States is encouraging the parties to reach an agreement on how to allocate the Cabinet positions in a way that reflects the September 15 power-sharing agreement.
Wood warned that “should Mugabe renege” or fail to negotiate with the MDC in good faith, “the United States … is prepared to impose additional sanctions.”
“We want an agreement that reflects the will of the Zimbabweans. They’ve suffered a very long time. The suffering should come to an end, and we need to move forward with the political process,” he said.
Former South African President Thabo Mbeki is continuing his efforts to broker an agreement between the two sides, and, Wood said, Zimbabwe’s neighbors in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) also are interested in seeing an agreement go forward.
“We always stand ready to assist where we can,” Wood said, “but those parties have the lead and they should at this point.”
