WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2008-11-11 Time: 05:00:09 Posted By: Jan
By Daily News Reporters
Southern African countries have failed to break an impasse on forming a unity government in Zimbabwe, prompting opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to appeal to the African Union to step in.
After 14 hours of closed-door talks in Johannesburg, the 15-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) failed to prod President Robert Mugabe and Tsvangirai into a compromise.
The summit’s final communique called for the Zimbabwean rivals to form a unity government immediately and to share control of the disputed home affairs ministry, which oversees the police. But Tsvangirai, who defeated Mugabe in elections in March, rejected this proposal as unworkable.
| ‘I, as president, have greater superintendence’ |
“This issue of co-sharing does not work. We have said so ourselves, we have rejected it, and that’s the position,” Tsvangirai said.
The summit in Johannesburg had opened with tough talk from South Africa, as President Kgalema Motlanthe urged both sides “to show political maturity” in finding a compromise.
“The historic power-sharing agreement remains the only vehicle to help extricate Zimbabwe from her socio-economic challenges,” Motlanthe said.
SADC on Sunday night swung behind Mugabe in the struggle for control of the country’s key home affairs ministry, which has held up putting its unity government into office.
But Tsvangirai said it did not satisfy the principle of equitable power-sharing which the Zimbabwean parties had agreed to on September 15. The MDC has insisted that it must have sole control of the ministry, which brings with it authority over the police, if power-sharing is to be meaningful.
It says control of the police will balance Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party’s control of all other security agencies.
However, about 14 hours after summit talks started at the Sandton convention centre, SADC Secretary-General Tomaz Salamao emerged to say: “Summit decided that the inclusive government be formed forthwith (and) the ministry of home affairs be co-managed between Zanu-PF and MDC-Tsvangirai.”
Mugabe had himself earlier proposed the joint ministers concept, but Tsvangirai’s MDC rejected it.
“Perversely, pressure was brought to bear on the MDC, a party that won an election but has shown compromise and political maturity in these negotiations rather than the party that lost an election and has flouted the spirit and substance of the agreement, namely Zanu-PF,” he said.
With two competing ministers, the MDC believes Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party would be in a position to sideline the MDC, as the upper levels of the bureaucracy are its own members, and it would also threaten the MDC’s one-vote majority in cabinet under the political agreement.
A source inside the meeting described Mugabe as “extremely contemptuous” of Tsvangirai, interrupting him during his presentation.
When the MDC leader said he had won the March 29 election, Mugabe shouted “You didn’t! You didn’t!”.
“Our situation is not a domestic issue, it is a foreign issue,” Mugabe told the five heads of state and other officials, expounding his anti-Western mindset.
“Home affairs is part of security and I, as president, have greater superintendence.”
Zanu-PF has already overseen the destruction of Zimbabwe’s economy and the killing of almost 200 opposition supporters over the election season earlier this year. The summit decision leaves the entire process on the verge of collapse. Salamao said: “SADC was asked to rule and SADC took a decision, that’s the position of SADC. It’s up to the parties to implement.”
The summit decision was a demonstration, yet again, of Mugabe’s extraordinary skills as a political operator, having convinced his colleagues, who are the guarantors of the power-sharing agreement, to force Tsvangirai into a corner. One of Tsvangirai’s key allies, Botswana’s President Ian Khama, was not at the summit and most present seemed closer to Mugabe. – Daily News Foreign Service and
Source: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?art_id=vn20081110112024757C633065