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Democracy News
SADC Leaders Discuss Zimbabwe’s Political Standstill
August 23, 2010
By: Randi Zung | Printer Friendly
Since February 2010, the government of Zimbabwe has been at a political standstill as the result of President Robert Mugabe violating the terms of his power-sharing agreement with opposing party leader Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. The power-sharing agreement, known as the Global Political Agreement, was established in September 2008 following a disputed presidential election between these two leaders that resulted in a violent crackdown on opposition figures. The deal was intended to give both Tsvangirai and Mugabe equal control over the country’s government, but Mugabe’s government quickly seized power. Last week leaders from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) met in Namibia and called on Zimbabwe to resolve its current political standoff.
Voice of America (VOA) reported that during the SADC summit, the committee on defense, politics and security met to discuss how to resolve the situation in Zimbabwe. However, only a few conflicting reports of the meeting’s outcome are available. According to Nelson Chamisa, spokesman for Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party, the committee recommended holding fresh elections to resolve the power-struggle, but aides to President Zuma deny the information. Lindiwe Zulu, Zuma’s foreign policy adviser, was quoted by VOA as stating there were “no such recommendations.”
Despite the differing accounts, VOA also reported that MDC Finance Minister Tendai Biti said that the country is on the course toward fresh elections, but added that Zimbabwe still has ways to go. In addition to reestablishing the power-sharing agreement, the government must also redraw voting boundaries and finish redrafting the country’s constitution before elections can be held.
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