Both sides still at loggerheads over Zimbabwe deal

Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe today risked a Western backlash by declaring he was ready to form a government on his own if the opposition refused to join him in power-sharing.

Zimbabwe has been virtually without a government since an inconclusive presidential vote held almost a year ago.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change is refusing to join Mugabe until issues including ending state-sponsored violence against dissidents and determining a fair distribution of Cabinet posts are resolved.

Any government without opposition members would be condemned by the West – the European Union yesterday added 62 individuals and companies to a blacklist freezing assets and barring travel to those who funnel money to prop up Mugabe and his clique.

Patrick Chinamasa, spokesman for Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party, said the government should be sworn in on February 13, as proposed by regional leaders earlier in the day.

He said his party would give the opposition a few more days to decide whether to join in a unity government.

An MDC spokesman said its leaders would meet on Friday to decide their next step.

Mugabe is accustomed to Western criticism, and may find support among African leaders who see the opposition as blocking a solution.

The 13 countries of the Southern African Development Community today declared a Zimbabwean prime minister – the post Mr Tsvangirai is to hold – will be sworn in on February 11 after parliament passes a constitutional amendment creating the post.

The opposition said its conclusions “fall far short of our expectations.”

The MDC said the summit had failed to address concerns including the equitable sharing of Cabinet posts and the abduction and alleged torture of opposition members by government security agents and police.

The impasse over forming a government has stranded Zimbabweans in a prolonged economic crisis. Half the population in a once-prosperous nation is reliant on international food handouts and a cholera epidemic caused by the collapse of water services has killed almost 3,000 people.

Both Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai are under pressure. Some of Mr Tsvangirai’s allies say he never should have agreed to serve as prime minister under Mugabe, while Mugabe is constrained by military and civilian aides who do not want to give up power and access to corrupt wealth.