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Zimbabwe: Mugabe in Tight Spot After 'Victory'
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Zimbabwe Independent (Harare)
ANALYSIS
12 July 2008
Posted to the web 12 July 2008
Dumisani Muleya
Harare
AFTER recently storming back to power in a discredited one-man election, President Robert Mugabe is finding out that things are harder than he thought. He has suddenly become amenable to talks.
Mugabe is faced with fundamental questions he cannot resolve even after claiming a "landslide" victory in the poll. He has to deal with his now glaring lack of legitimacy and an economic crisis. He also has to deal with mounting pressure for him to reform or go. Besides, Mugabe needs to use his pyrrhic victory to resolve his succession crisis and a renewal of his fossilised party.
This has put him in a position in which he has no choice but to talk to the opposition, even though his motives remain how to retain the levers of power.
Terrified by his disastrous leadership failures and the looming prospect of rejection at the polls, Mugabe cited some bizarre reasons why he would never allow his bitter rival, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai, to rule even if he won. Zanu PF then unleashed a campaign of terror to stop him. At least 100 people were reportedly killed, while thousands of others were displaced and injured in the brutal campaign of violence.
However, the stark realities of lack of legitimacy and economic meltdown are now haunting Mugabe, making him open to dialogue, including with Tsvangirai -- the man he often describes as a "front" and "stooge" for Western powers bent on regime change in Harare.
Tsvangirai last Saturday actually stood up Mugabe at Zimbabwe House, showing things have changed, although the move by the MDC leader is seen in some circles as evidence of his chronic lack of strategic thinking.
Negotiations are a very useful tool in resolving conflicts and should be pursued when appropriate. In situations where no fundamentalist issues are at stake like in the case of Zimbabwe today, and therefore a compromise is plausible and acceptable, negotiations are a relatively better way out.
Tsvangirai's supporters claim it was a good move to boycott the meeting with Mugabe at Zimbabwe House -- the president's official residence -- because he denied South African President Thabo Mbeki a propaganda coup ahead of a crucial G8 summit in Japan this week. Mbeki was grilled by sceptical G8 leaders who questioned his mediation record after he reportedly claimed the talks were proceeding well.
It was also reported he said Mugabe was not legitimate and the whole point of his push for a government of national unity was to address that problem. It was further reported that he had said that Mugabe would be leaving anyway in a "few years" and is prepared for a ceremonial role in the new set up.
While some of these claims sound far-fetched, Mbeki appears to have been put under pressure to justify his role. However, he succeeded in the end in keeping the mediation under his control as shown by the G8 leaders' support despite threats of "further steps and measures" against Harare with United Nations approval.
The African Union also backs the initiative although it wants to be involved. Mbeki has stymied attempts by some AU leaders to challenge his role.
There is growing consensus in Zimbabwe, the region, Africa and at the UN that a government of national unity is the most viable way out for this country. This is what Mbeki has been pushing for despite his failure so far. Only the United States and European Union -- admittedly the real powers although their influence on the issue is limited -- seem to be taking a hardline position.
Mbeki's critics say his attempt to secure a meeting between Mugabe and Tsvangirai was designed to stall international efforts to isolate Mugabe's regime. They also claim it was meant to dupe the MDC into unwittingly giving Mugabe tacit recognition.
However, this is not entirely true because Tsvangirai, as it now transpires, actually asked Mbeki in a telephone conversation on July 2 for the meeting which was confirmed on July 4. It has also now come out Tsvangirai was also very much aware the meeting would be at Zimbabwe House. This effectively scotches the widely held claim, among others, that he boycotted the meeting because did not want to enter the venue fearing he would legitimise Mugabe.
The meeting was organised by Mbeki after consultations between Zanu PF and the two MDC factions on June 30 and July 2. The point is that Tsvangirai boycotted the meeting not because of all these assumptions but for reasons best known to himself.
This has tended to cloud issues and lead to mystifying speculation, although a clear picture is emerging again.
Zanu PF and MDC negotiators resumed talks for a possible government of national unity in Pretoria yesterday amid fast growing pressure for a resolution of Zimbabwe's drawn-out political impasse.
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The resumption of talks in the midst of mounting pressure and a worsening economic meltdown is likely to accelerate the search for a breakthrough which has been hard to pin down.
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How can the writer claim that Mr. Tsvangirai boycotted the meeting for “reasons best known to himself”, when the reason itself was alluded to in the article : The lack of an AU observer. That Mbeki continues to fawn over Mugabe is obvious to all, and his instance of keeping an AU observer out of the process shows that among other things, he doesn’t want the world to know that he is strictly a “Mugabe Man’, and would do nothing to further the interests of anyone or entity that does not give the Killer of Harare what ever he... [Read Full Text]
No matter how USA and UK try to disguise the true causes of their hatred for Mugabe, these causes are well known and here they are: First, Mugabe sent his military to Congo to halt the USA- and UK-engineered invasion of Congo by Tutsi armies of Burundi, Rwanda, and Uganda. Second, Mugabe redistributed the land that had been illegally acquired and owned by white farmers to Black Zimbabweans. Both of these actions that Mugabe did ran counter the interests of USA and UK. That's the truth.
Mr,have you had yr fix yet? Are you ok? Are Mugabes role in stemming the Uk and US roles the reasons for his(Mugabes) refusal step down after loosing the election? The White people are on the right side in this case then.
And what happened to the land that was re-distributed? The farms disintegrated and no crops were produced and the economy collapsed and the people starved. And the farms were re-distrubuted to Mugabe's cronies, not to the people of Zimbabwe. One of Mugabe's cronies to whom a farm was given, was the Archbishop of the Church of England; his farm, too, was never worked and the people of Zimbabwe continued to starve. So much for a man of God. It will be interesting to know what he will say one day to his Anglican God and to his... [Read Full Text]
rol...are you free to write the next james bond movie???.I admire your imagination. the uk and usa are tied up in afghan and iraq and they worry about some tinpot dictator's mining ventures in congo??? get a grip man!!
"House boys in suits" IS THIS WHAT MUGABE IS UP AGAINST? "Character Assination","Nation Destabilization" the Brits are Master of this game and they have perfected it to a fine art. CHECK IT OUT ON YOU TUBE
Life and Debt - Globalization and Jamaica
video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5277094596195828118
Democracy Now! | Confessions of an Economic Hit Man: How the U.S. ... We speak with John Perkins, a former respected member of the international banking community. In his book _Confessions of an Economic Hit Man_ he describes ... democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/09/1526251 - 41k - Cached - Similar pages
Crooks and... [Read Full Text]
I'm sorry, how is this post relevant to this article? Why do you continually cut and post your comments from one string to the next? What if everyone did that? Do you think that you have written a master piece and the more places your copy it too, the more praise your ego will receive? Do you think your voice needs to be heard 100 times while everyone else just the once? Do you think you are that much more special than everyone else?
No matter how USA and UK try to disguise the true causes of their hatred for Mugabe, these causes are well known and here they are: First, Mugabe sent his military to Congo to halt the USA- and UK-engineered invasion of Congo by Tutsi armies of Burundi, Rwanda, and Uganda. Second, Mugabe redistributed the land that had been illegally acquired and owned by white farmers to Black Zimbabweans. Both of these actions that Mugabe did ran counter the interests of USA and UK. That's the truth.
I'm sorry, how is this post relevant to this article? Why do you continually cut and post your comments from one string to the next? What if everyone did that? Do you think that you have written a master piece and the more places your copy it too, the more praise your ego will receive? Do you think your voice needs to be heard 100 times while everyone else just the once? Do you think you are that much more special than everyone else?
The main reason for Mugabe 'pretending' to negotiate is the pending prosecution of the Sudanese president for war crimes committed by him - by the International Criminal Court in the Hague. Mugabe knows he is next. His gloating that sanctions did not go ahead after the meeting of the UN last week is short lived. There is now a fresh thorn in his side. So he has to pretend that he is negotiating and use this as an excuse for as long as he can pull the wool over certain peoples' eyes in order to prolong the long arm... [Read Full Text]
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