Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Harare (Agenzia Fides) – While pressures from civil organizations and the Catholic Church in the countries of southern Africa in relation to the Mugabe regime continue (see Fides 28/1/2009), the nation-members of the SADC (Southern African Development Community) do not seem happy with the news of Morgan Tsvangirai (leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, the main opposition party) being designated as Prime Minister in the future government of national unity, according to the agreement made on January 26 in Pretoria (South Africa).
The agreement was reached during the Special Summit held by the SADC, at the close of which the President of the Community issued a statement affirming that President Mugabe's regime and the opposition had reached an agreement on a series of questions.
However, the MDC has rejected the accord, saying that they were not a part of it. According to a diplomat in Addis Abeba, at the African Union headquarters, the MDC rejected, after having previously approved, certain points in the agreement. “The fact that an accord has been reached in closed-door discussion, in which Tsvangirai was present and then immediately afterwards, his party publicly rejects the accord, could have damaging effects on his support from African nations,” the diplomat explained.
The MDC has raised a series of questions on several aspects of the colloquium, among which is the objectivity of the mediator, former South African President Thabo Mbeki, and the honesty of Mugabe in his promise to give the MDC a significant role in government. The President's party, the ZANU-PF, has accused the MDC of delaying talks, saying that they would have to move forward in forming a government if the opposition, if the opposition did not accept the proposals made by the mediators.
According to the African Union, the accord remains firm: the swearing-in of Tsvangirai as Prime Minister on February 4, with the formation of a government of national unity, while all the other questions would be dealt with after the formation of the government. According to international observers, the interior division of the MDC is fruit of the internal conflict that had been seen in the party on previous occasions.
While the politicians debate, the population suffers. According to the World Food Program of the UN (WFP), there are nearly 7 million people in Zimbabwe who depend on international aid in order to survive until the harvest in April. (LM) (Agenzia Fides 29/1/2009)
