Agreement not Reached in Zimbabwean Unity Cabinet Talks

By M. Brandon Maggiore
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Africa

HARARE, Zimbabwe – Talks between President Robert Mugabe, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, the head of a small MDC offshoot, once again concluded without reaching a final agreement.

A power-sharing deal was signed by Mugabe and Tsvangirai September 15, but the particulars of the deal are the subject of on-going negotiations. It has been agreed that President Mugabe will remain president and that Morgan Tsvangirai will be prime minister. However, the division of power between the two positions has caused a delay in reaching a final agreement.

A spokesman for Mugabe said that control over the finance and home affairs portfolios is still at issue while the BBC reports the MDC as saying that the disagreement is over the entire cabinet.

Zimbabwe has the highest inflation in the world and severe food shortages plague the country. The United Nations estimates that two million people in Zimbabwe are in need of food assistance. John Holmes, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs at the United Nations, said that between January and March of 2009 nearly 6 million of Zimbabwe’s 12 million inhabitants will need food assistance.

Nelson Chamisa, the MDC spokesman, said the delay in forming a government was "a threat to people's lives" and that “people are dying.”

Thabo Mbeki, the former president of South Africa who brokered the power-sharing deal, has agreed to resume his mediation to resolve the deadlock.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Zimbabwe Unity Cabinet Talks Fail – 4 October 2008

UN News Service – Urgent aid Needed as Zimbabwe’s Humanitarian Crisis Worsens – 2 October 2008

AFP - Zimbabwe Opposition, Mugabe Fail to Reach Agreement: Officials – 4 October 2008