Word: tsvangirai
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Power-sharing talks in Zimbabwe are on the verge of a complete breakdown, according to sources inside the negotiations, with President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai unable to agree on who should wield greater power in a unity government. Underlining how the mood between the two sides has soured, one general in Zimbabwe's army reiterated a threat to defend Mugabe's regime "even if it means going to war," adding that Tsvangirai would be arrested if talks fail. And that would not appear to be an idle threat: the opposition leader, who won more votes than Mugabe...
...Prime Minister, which he said would be a powerful position. When the opposition leader demanded to know the specific powers Mugabe would concede to the new office, Mugabe replied that the Prime Minister would be more powerful than the President in the new arrangement but offered no details. Tsvangirai responded by demanding the presidency for himself and offering the post of Prime Minister to Mugabe. At that point, the talks broke down...
...Mugabe was incensed," said the MDC source. "He accused Tsvangirai of being unreasonable ... and told the meeting that he would soon form a government with like-minded people [and] not Tsvangirai." That was an apparent reference to negotiations on power-sharing that Mugabe has been conducting with breakaway MDC faction leader Arthur Mutambara, which was reported by Zimbabwe's state-run Herald newspaper last week. (Mutambara later denied that he had reached any agreement with Mugabe.) The reaction of Zimbabwe's security establishment to Tsvangirai's proposal was even more extreme than Mugabe's. A leading army general, who also...
...Allocating the top positions isn't the only point of contention in the talks. Tsvangirai wants a unity government to be a transitional administration that would leave office after 30 months, when a new constitution would be adopted. Mugabe wants the unity government to last five years, and refuses to countenance reforms to such draconian laws as the Public Order and Security Act, which makes it an offence to "cause disaffection among Police Force or Defence Force," to "publish or communicate false statements prejudicial to the State" and to "undermine the authority of or insult the President...
Before his tussle with the security services on Thursday, Tsvangirai had issued a statement vowing to stick with the discussions. "We knew negotiations would be difficult," he said. "But a resolution that represents anything other than the will of the Zimbabwean people would be a disaster for our country." That apparent reference to his scoring a larger share of the vote in March suggests Tsvangirai still insists that the lion's share of power be his. Mugabe's enthusiasm for the same is plain. As ever, Zimbabwe's rennaissance seems a long...