WORLD> Africa
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WORLD> Africa
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Mugabe cedes some power in Zimbabwe deal
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-09-16 09:39 Tsvangirai beat Mugabe in March presidential elections, but not by enough to avoid a runoff. An onslaught of state-sponsored violence forced Tsvangirai to withdraw from the second election, and Mugabe was declared the winner in a vote widely denounced as a sham.
More than 100 opposition supporters were killed, thousands of people were beaten up and suffered broken limbs, and tens of thousands were forced from their homes. Monday's signing in Zimbabwe was overseen by Swaziland's King Mswati III, Africa's last absolute monarch who is in charge of the regional security organ responsible for nurturing democracy in the 14-nation Southern African Development Community.Mswati is widely revered, but not by democrats who say parliamentary elections in Swaziland later this month are a sham because political parties are banned. Angola has also played a key role in trying to mediate an end to Zimbabwe's crisis. The oil-rich nation this month held its first elections in 16 years, a parliamentary ballot. It has yet to democratically elect a president. "We have a long way to go before democracy is entrenched in Africa," said Hendricks, the analyst. Indeed, after signing, Mugabe warned in his Shona language that "this thing called democracy is a problem. It's a difficult proposition because always the opposition will want much more than what it deserves." Increasingly, Mugabe confronts a dilemma. He insists that Zimbabwe is a sovereign country and will brook no outside interference. Yet the country, once a bread basket of the region, is now dependent on international aid to feed its people as it suffers inflation officially running at 11 million percent. Aid agencies welcomed the power-sharing deal as a hopeful sign they will be able to step up food deliveries to millions of people facing hunger. "The food situation in Zimbabwe has reached crisis point," said Matthew Cochrane of the international Red Cross. "There are already more than 2 million people who don't have food, and that number is going to rise to 5 million, which is about half the country's population, by the end of the year." Mugabe's government restricted the work of aid agencies in June, accusing them of siding with the opposition before a presidential runoff. The ban was lifted last month, but aid agencies say it takes time to gear up. Western nations, whose aid and investment could mean the difference between the success or failure of the unity experiment, reacted cautiously. Millions of dollars in aid are expected if Mugabe proves genuine about sharing power and working to end Zimbabwe's economic and political crisis. |
