The South African government on Friday congratulated the people of Zimbabwe and its political leadership after a power-sharing deal was reached.
”The agreement has once more underlined our often stated view that only the people of Zimbabwe, acting with the support of the international community, can author their own destiny out of the current political and economic challenges facing their country,” spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said in a statement.
The agreement is due to be signed under the aegis of the Southern African Development Community next Monday in Harare.
”Indeed, while this is course for celebration, we are all too aware that this historic milestone constitutes but the end of the beginning,” the statement read.
”We call on the international community to give its unequivocal support to the people of Zimbabwe as they strike out along this new road.”
President Thabo Mbeki, who has been mediating the talks between the rival parties, announced the agreement in Harare on Thursday.
United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon also hailed the deal and said he hoped it would pave the way for durable peace and recovery.
”The Secretary General welcomes the agreement reached today in Harare between the government and the opposition on a government of national unity,” his press office said in a statement.
”He hopes that this agreement will pave the way for a durable peace and recovery in the country and contribute to rapid improvement in the welfare and human rights of the people of Zimbabwe, who have suffered for long,” it added.
Ban congratulated the parties for clinching the accord and praised Mbeki for ”his tireless efforts to help them reach it”.
The United Nations has been bolstering the South African-led mediation process through Ban’s special envoy Haile Menkerios.
Stumbling blocks
Details of the deal were not released and Mbeki said the agreement would only be made public after the signing ceremony.
Mbeki said the rivals will also on Monday ”file a report concerning the constitutional composition of the inclusive government that has been agreed”.
The parties ”will spend the next days constituting this inclusive government”.
Mugabe and his longtime rival Morgan Tsvangirai had tussled in the negotiations over how to share power, with the opposition leader warning he would prefer no deal at all over a bad agreement.
Tsvangirai said recently he would not accept any accord that did not grant him sufficient power.
Control of Zimbabwe’s security forces was believed to have been one of the major stumbling blocks.
The 84-year-old Mugabe, a liberation hero in the war that led to Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980, and who has ruled since that time, has drawn strong support from the country’s security chiefs.
It remained unclear how a power-sharing government involving the two men, intense rivals for many years, would work in practice.
Tsvangirai has survived treason charges and a severe beating by the security forces in his long effort to topple Mugabe.
Mugabe, meanwhile, has labelled Tsvangirai a stooge of former colonial power Britain and declared that only God could remove him from office.
The deal may amount to a measure of vindication for Mbeki, who has faced harsh criticism over what some said was his reluctance to publicly criticise Mugabe. Tsvangirai had previously called for him to be stripped of his role as mediator.
Mbeki expressed confidence that the agreement would be workable.
”I am certain the leadership of Zimbabwe is committed to implementing the agreement,” he said.
Earlier on Thursday, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported that the opposition factions in the talks had agreed to a deal where Mugabe would head the Cabinet while Tsvangirai would chair a newly-established council of ministers.
The council would oversee implementation of policies and the day-to-day business of government, the report said.
However, the report said Mugabe had initially baulked at the deal, causing an impasse earlier on Thursday.
Tsvangirai was the first to signal a deal as he emerged from a meeting with Mugabe.
”We’ve got a deal,” the leader of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party told journalists after tortuous negotiations.
Mugabe won a controversial June presidential run-off unopposed after Tsvangirai withdrew despite finishing ahead of the president in the March first round, citing state-sponsored violence against his supporters.
The announcement of the deal was a dramatic turn from Mugabe’s pessimism earlier in the day, when he reported a logjam and accused Tsvangirai once again of being a Western stooge.
”They want to govern … we say never,” he told Zimbabwe television news after a meeting with tribal chiefs in the second city of Bulawayo.
Twelve hours of negotiations chaired by Mbeki on Wednesday brought the sides closer to a power-sharing deal, with Mugabe at that point saying a deal would ”hopefully” be signed on Thursday.
Tsvangirai had said earlier that ”very little is left” to be agreed, but gave no details of the sticking points.
”This a good deal for Zimbabwe. It is not about Zanu-PF or MDC, people should now move forward for the national good,” said MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa.
Edwin Mushoriwa, spokesperson for a smaller MDC branch headed by Arthur Mutambara that also participated in the talks, said it was ”a good thing that political leaders have put national interest at heart before self interests”.
While the political crisis has dragged on, Zimbabwe’s economy has continued its freefall with the world’s highest inflation rate — 11,2-million percent in June, according to official figures. – AFP
