Maravi

Mutambara defends his decision to meet Mugabe

Mutambara defends his decision to meet Mugabe
By Kingsley Kaswende in Harare
Wednesday July 09, 2008 [04:01]

LEADER of the opposition MDC breakaway faction, Professor Arthur Mutambara, has defended his decision to meet President Robert Mugabe during the talks that were boycotted by his counterpart Morgan Tsvangirai. Prof Mutambara had come under fire after it emerged that his MDC faction met with President Mugabe and South African President Thabo Mbeki in Harare last Saturday, a meeting that was boycotted by Tsvangirai.

"Our information was that Mr Tsvangirai was the one who requested that meeting and secondly, Mr Tsvangirai had confirmed his attendance at that meeting, otherwise we would not have attended that meeting if we knew that Mr Tsvangirai was not going to attend," Prof Mutambara said when asked about the rationale of his attendance.

But Tsvangirai's faction said the request was made for a meeting between President Mugabe and Tsvangirai before the June 27 election.
Tsvangirai had said he would only negotiate with President Mugabe before the recent election runoff.

Tsvangirai said he boycotted Saturday's meeting because conditions for negotiations had not been met, which included an end to violence and clarification on the issue of President Mbeki as the sole negotiator.

Tsvangirai has in the past complained about President Mbeki's brokerage and wants him to be complemented by AU-backed mediators.

Asked if going to State House was legitimising President Mugabe, Prof Mutambara responded by saying: "That is nonsense. What is important is meeting. We want to make sure that Zimbabweans get together. It doesn't matter where they meet. We are not caught up on the rubbish around form. We are concerned about substance... if Mr Tsvangirai is concerned about meeting in the State House, we can meet under a tree and discuss the matters of our country."

Branding President Mugabe as an "illegitimate" leader, Prof Mutambara defended his party's decision to attend the meeting saying negotiation was the only viable option to end the country's crisis.

"The issues about the format, the terms of reference, the timeline, the type of mediation for that negotiation could be resolved as part of the dialogue," he said.
"The output of the June 27 illegal and fraudulent electoral process can only be an illegitimate incumbent. There are two options for us as Zimbabweans: Pick up arms of war and drive out Robert Mugabe or negotiate an all-inclusive national political settlement. These are the only choices. We need to be decisive in our analysis and strategic thinking. Given our circumstances and history it seems the only sensible and conceivable way forward is through national dialogue among all the key civic and political stakeholders, in pursuit of a political agreement."

Prof Mutambara said the likely outcomes of the negotiated settlement would be either an inclusive and stable government on the terms of democratically elected citizens, or a government of national unity involving all key political players, or a transitional government tasked with the mandate of supervising fresh free and fair elections.

"It must be emphasised that commitment to dialogue as a strategy of resolution does not mean agreement to a particular negotiation format, nor does it mean endorsement of a specific political outcome. All these matters must be discussed and resolved as part of the all-inclusive dialogue process. What is imperative for Zimbabweans is making up their minds on whether they want an armed revolution or they want to talk to each other," said Prof Mutambara.

Labels: ARTHUR MUTAMBARA, MUGABE

posted by MrK @ 3:40 AM