David Smith in "We have suspended our disengagement from the government with immediate effect," said Tsvangirai after an emergency regional summit in But he presented Mugabe with a new ultimatum. "We will give President Robert Mugabe 30 days to implement the agreements on the pertinent issues we are concerned about," he said. His announcement came after talks with Mugabe and heads of state, including South African president Jacob Zuma, aimed at ending the political stalemate in Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change party boycotted the inclusive government on 16 October, raising fears that the eight-month-old power sharing agreement was heading for collapse. The walkout followed MDC claims that Mugabe's Zanu-PF had repeatedly flouted the power-sharing agreement and committed human rights abuses. The issue came to a head after the detention of a senior MDC aide, Roy Bennett, on terrorism charges. The MDC said there had been "increased violent" attacks on party members by militants from Zanu-PF. Zanu-PF described the comments as "cheap propaganda". The Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) security troika was made up of Mozambican President Armando Guebuza, Zambian President Rupiah Banda and SADC, which is the guarantor of last year's power-sharing agreement, instructed the parties that they have 15 days to resolve outstanding issues. It said that SADC, which has been criticised by sceptics as ineffective, also reiterated its call for western sanctions on Zimbabwean political leaders to be lifted. Accusations of human rights abuses and vote rigging in past elections have led the European Union and US to impose travel bans and asset freezes on Mugabe and his allies. The next Mugabe, who has ruled since 1980, declined to comment after the Some MDC supporters had applauded Tsvangirai's decision to disengage as evidence that he will stand up to Mugabe. Others regarded it as an empty gesture that left him little room for manoeuvre. Civil society organisations said there has been a subsequent increase in political violence. Sydney Chisi, spokesperson for the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, said this week: "Since the disengagement two weeks ago of Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change from contact with Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF within the government of national unity, there has been widespread political violence and intimidation." He added: "There have also been reports of abductions of youth who are again being detained in Zanu-PF training camps... preparing them to perpetrate violent acts against enemies." Kerry Kay of the MDC said: "The situation in --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~--- |
