Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Harare (Agenzia Fides) – The agreement as to distribution of powers was signed yesterday, September 15, in Zimbabwe’s capital city of Harare. The document establishes the formation of a coalition government (see Fides 12/9/2008) in which the opposition will have a majority representation in the President’s cabinet, presided by President Robert Mugabe. The leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, Morgan Tsvangirai, will become Vice-President of the cabinet and Chair of the Council of Ministers, with the task of “supervising the formulation of governmental policies by the cabinet” and “guaranteeing that the policies thus formulated are applied by the government in all their integrity.” The other Vice-President is Arthur Muthambara, leader of the party that broke off from the MDC.
The agreement calls for a total of 31 ministers: 16 from the MDC (including three from Muthambara's faction), and 15 from ZANU-PF. The signing parties promise to: accept the “irreversible” character of the confiscation and redistribution of land carried out by Mugabe (investigations will be made to resolve the property conflicts); ask the British government to take primary responsibility for compensating the former land owners (the majority of whom are of British origin); make reestablishing stability and economic growth a priority; call for the revoking of international sanctions; establish a calendar for drafting the new Constitution, which should be subject to a referendum among the people, within the next 18 months; encourage the Zimbabwean citizens who have immigrated to other countries, to return to their homeland.
“As Premier of the country, I ask the ZANU-PF and the MDC to work for the unity of Zimbabwe. The divisions belong to the past,” Tsvangirai said in his inaugural speech as Prime Minister, following the signing of the accord.
In the signing ceremony, representatives from various African governments were present, including South African President Thabo Mbeki, who worked 5 long months in the mediation effort between the two countries. The crisis began following the first round of presidential elections held on March 29 (Tsvangirai accused Mugabe of fraud, claiming victory in the first round) and according to the opposition, it led to the death of at least 200 people, victims of political repression, nearly 10,000 wounded, and the flight of 200,000 Zimbabweans who took refuge outside the country. In the economic scheme of the nation, the inflation rate is at about 11 million %, with an unemployment rate of over 80%. (LM) (Agenzia Fides 16/9/2008)
