Mugabe and Tsvangirai willing to negotiate...what?
Wednesday 25 June 2008
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai says he is willing in principle to talk to President Robert Mugabe. But the two men have very different aims ahead of the expected presidential run-off on Friday.
Mugabe and Tsvangirai willing to negotiate...what?
By Armen GeorgianWednesday 25 June 2008
Both Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Zimbabwean oppostion party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), and President Robert Mugabe say they’re willing in principle to negotiate after the dispute about the results of the presidential election in the country. But there’s no common ground.
Tsvangirai is only interested in talks before Friday's run-off election - which he has told his supporters to boycott in order to avoid more violence. If the election goes ahead that day, he says he will have nothing to negotiate with Mugabe.
The outgoing president naturally wants to negotiate from a position of strength after Friday, when he will have “won” the run-off.
Mugabe can bank on a very low turnout in the MDC’s urban strongholds and perhaps a more substantial showing in Zanu-PF’s rural heartlands.
He can probably also count on African nations' stopping short of disowning him. Many have condemned his decision to press on with the vote, but they have not said they will consider him illegitimate after Friday. The signals from African organizations are that they will keep pushing for dialogue between Mugabe and Tsvangirai rather than freeze out Mugabe.
Tsvangirai’s main hope is that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union will push for a transitional set up to steer Zimbabwe towards economic stability and democracy. But in Tsvangirai’s vision, this set up would exclude Mugabe. That means SADC’s key player, South African President Thabo Mbeki, would have to abandon his “quiet diplomacy” and say clearly that Mugabe is yesterday’s politician. Not only would that be humiliating for Mbeki, it would play into the hands of his arch-rival Jacob Zuma. The ANC president has long advocated a much tougher line on Mugabe.
Mbeki has enough problems; my guess is he won’t want to add to them by in effect admitting that he was wrong on Zimbabwe.
27/06/2008 12:51:13 Alert a moderator
A Very Scared & Frustrated Zimbabwean
By Shaun -
I would like to thank all the reporters and anchors at France 24 for their continous efforts in bringing us the latest stories and headlines. I am living in Zimbabwe and would just like to ask why nobody such as UN, Britian, USA, AU, SADC and the likes are not doing anything to help us. Yes it's fair and fine having all these meetings and talks claiming to be looking at the next step but tell me honestly are these meetings accomplishing anything. Nothing ever comes out of them. It is also incredibly annoying when we watch the news and people are trying to speculate what is going dpwn on the ground. Believe me it is nothing compared to how we are so called "living".
We have all signed all sorts of petitions for this and that but do they get noticed? No. People as of today are now being forced to vote. If you don't, it's quite simple you get tortured, beaten or killed. Tell us then what is worse. So many people say that it is better to be killed than to be under their control. Now since nothing is being done I would like to know how all the World Powers that be would feel once they see all the dead bodies pilling knowing that they should've done something about it. By then it will be too late.
I do apologise if it seems I am venting my anger towards anybody. I sincerely don't mean to be however this situation has gotten so bad over the years that people have just about had as much as they can take. We are at breaking point now and are begging people to help us. I would greatly appreciate it if you could publish my enail or perhaps even get somebody to respond to it. I would really like to hear your views.
Yours sincerely
A Very Scared & Frustrated Zimbabwean.