Mugabe 'ready to form unity govt' 09/07/2008 - 06:59:29
Zimbabwe’s foreign minister says President Robert Mugabe is ready to form a unity government with opposition party members.
However, Simbarashe Mumbengegwi remained vague on the role that the country’s opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai might play.
Mr Mumbengegwi said the way forward was for Mugabe to form “an all-inclusive government where all the political parties take part”.
Mr Mumbengegwi spoke in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, yesterday, where he was meeting the West African nation’s president, Blaise Compaore. Burkina Faso is a member of the United Nations Security Council.
In New York, the 15-nation council met yesterday to discuss Zimbabwe and French and US officials said a majority of security council member countries supported a proposal to sanction Zimbabwe and freeze Mugabe’s assets. But they also said Russia warned it might veto the plan.
A vote on a US draft resolution calling for sanctions over state-sanctioned election violence in Zimbabwe is expected later this week.
Mr Tsvangirai has said he would not participate in talks about forming a governing accord with Mugabe’s government unless an additional mediator was appointed besides South African president Thabo Mbeki.
Mr Tsvangirai has called on Mr Mbeki to step down from his mediation role, saying his refusal to criticise Mugabe publicly amounts to appeasement.
In Japan, the Group of Eight leading nations branded Mugabe’s recent election illegitimate and promised to take measures against those responsible for the violence that prompted Mr Tsvangirai to pull out of the race.
Mugabe has shown little sign of yielding power after 28 years as president. Despite international condemnation, he went ahead with a one-candidate election last month after Mr Tsvangirai withdrew because of a wave of violence.
Mugabe declared himself the winner and was inaugurated for a sixth term as president.
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Zimbabwe’s foreign minister says President Robert Mugabe is ready to form a unity government with opposition party members.
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