Zimbabwe Deal

AU Monitor Weekly Roundup: Issue 151, 2008

Zimbabwe’s three main political parties have signed a power-sharing agreement, bringing to an end to nearly 30 years of exclusive rule by Zanu-PF. President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, facilitator of the Zimbabwe talks, told journalists that ‘a unanimous agreement, arrived at without any reservation by all the negotiating parties had been concluded.’ The AU Commission chairperson, Jean Ping, commending the Zimbabwean parties for arriving at the agreement, added that ‘the deal marked a turning point in efforts aimed at promoting reconciliation, stability and fostering conditions conducive for the recovery of the southern Africa country.’ In the power-sharing accord, President Robert Mugabe effectively remains head of state and government, chairman of the cabinet and commander-in-chief of the armed forces and his party will have 15 ministers in a 31-member cabinet. Morgan Tsvangirai will become prime minister and will have 13 cabinet ministers while Arthur Mutambara will be deputy prime minister and his party will have three ministers in cabinet. While the power sharing agreement has been widely acclaimed among policy makers, Johann Kriegler, a retired South African judge who is leading the independent commission investigating the integrity of Kenya’s 2007 elections, argued that the trend towards power sharing pacts was dangerous and warned that competitive elections, though costly, were 'cheaper than civil war'.

In peace and security related news, The AU commissioner for peace and security began a series of talks in Mauritania with the members of the country’s new governing body, the High State Council, the government, the political community and the civil society, in order to find a solution to the current crisis. Tanzania’s President Jakaya Kikwete, current chair of the AU, announced that Nigeria and Tanzania were seeking ways to stop the International Criminal Court’s plans to charge President Bashir, while affirming that the AU and United Nations would work with the Sudanese government to bring about peace and justice in Darfur.

In economic development news, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the government of Japan signed a loan agreement to the AfDB of $300 million that will finance the bank’s private sector initiative. Meanwhile, the economic affairs department of the AU, in collaboration with the Regional Economic Communities and the Association of African Universities, has called for papers for the first congress of African economists.

Finally, the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies will host the Forum on the Participation of NGOs prior to the 44th ordinary session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Abuja, Nigeria on November 7-9, 2008.