Russia welcomes Zim MoU

Russia welcomes Zim MoU
By George Chellah and Kingsley Kaswende in Harare, Zimbabwe
Friday July 25, 2008 [04:00]

RUSSIA has stated that the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) by ZANU-PF and the two MDC formations paves way for overcoming the domestic political crisis in Zimbabwe. And the ruling ZANU-PF and MDC negotiators left for South Africa on Wednesday evening to commence the inter-party talks to resolve Zimbabwe's political and economic crises.

According to a statement released by the Russian foreign ministry, Russia welcomed the signing of the MoU, which set a framework for inter-party negotiations that will take place in South Africa over the next two weeks.

"Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and leaders of the two factions of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara signed a Memorandum of Understanding on July 21, laying the basis for further talks to work out a comprehensive political agreement and to form a government of national unity," the statement stated.

"Russia welcomes this decision, which opens the way for overcoming the domestic political crisis in the country. We also note the high sense of responsibility shown by the participants of the inter-Zimbabwean dialogue, who have managed to rise above their differences in the interests of all Zimbabweans.

We call on leading forces of the country to continue demonstrating a constructive approach in the name of national unity and harmony.
"The accord became possible thanks largely to the active mediation role of South African President Thabo Mbeki, acting under the mandate from the Southern African Development Community and the African Union."

Russia further stated that it looks forward to President Mbeki's continued efforts to find possible compromises.

"We express the hope that the leaders of all political forces in Zimbabwe will fully meet obligations assumed in order to implement the provisions of the signed agreement so as within the shortest space of time to reach a mutually acceptable formula for an internal political settlement in the country," they stated. "We also expect that all external parties, including the non-African partners of Harare, will so act as to ease further successful advance of the inter-Zimbabwean dialogue."

Russia recently vetoed a US draft sanctions resolution on Zimbabwe at the UN Security Council.

And the European Union on Tuesday widened sanctions against Zimbabwe despite a political-deal between President Mugabe and Tsvangirai.

The EU foreign ministers that met in Brussels added 37 more people to a list of individuals under a visa-ban to Europe and whose assets have been frozen, including four legal entities, or firms. The new list now totals 168 persons and four firms.

And ZANU-PF and MDC negotiators left for South Africa on Wednesday evening to commence the inter-party talks to resolve Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis.

The ZANU-PF negotiating team comprises of Patrick Chinamasa and Nicholas Goche and the MDC-Tsvangirai faction comprise of secretary-general Tendai Biti and Elton Mangoma.

The MDC-Professor Arthur Mutambara faction comprises of Prof Welshman Ncube and Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga who are believed to have already flown to South Africa.

The inter-party talks will begin today at an undisclosed venue.
The negotiating teams from the three political parties have two weeks from the date of the signing of the MoU by their leaders to finalise the talks and reach an agreement.

But a civil society leader said the Zimbabwean political parties had taken an "illegitimate" approach of signing the MoU for unity talks without involving major stakeholders.

ZANU-PF and the two MDC formations on Monday signed an agreement on a framework for negotiations, which would lead towards a political settlement that seeks to end the country's crisis.

Dr Lovemore Madhuku, who chairs the National Constitution Assembly, a coalition of 43 civil society organisations, said the three political parties that exclusively signed the MoU did not have the sole responsibility to end the country's crisis.

"I think as civil society our reaction is very clear. We believe that the approach taken by the political parties is illegitimate.

It is illegitimate because they believe that as political parties on their own they have the responsibility to resolve the crisis and they are excluding the rest of society generally, and not just civil society," said Dr Madhuku, who doubles up as a law lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe. "It is simply based on an understanding that once the political parties agree then that is all that is required."

The political parties in Zimbabwe are seeking to untangle the political logjam that intensified after the June 27 presidential runoff election, which Tsvangirai boycotted.

But Dr Madhuku said the crisis in Zimbabwe was more than just what happened with the recent controversial elections.

"So it can't just be seen as an electoral dispute. We are not here to talk about the sharing of power. We are here to talk about how to address the enormous problem that Zimbabwe is in. You have millions of Zimbabweans living outside the country.

Many of them left the country some four, five years ago and so forth. Those are the kind of issues that we need to get out at the moment," he said.

He said it was time to find an inclusive long-term solution to the country's crisis.

Dr Madhuku said the parties needed to extend an invitation to civil society and business leaders to be part of the solution.
On the agenda of the talks, Dr Madhuku said the entire document was simply a power-sharing arrangement.

"So if you just pick out the so-called agenda items you can be misled into believing that there is going to be a serious discussion of the issues there. There is no serious discussion," he said.
"You cannot say that you have a new government, which is what the subject matter is, and that new government must look at the land question.

And then you have a new government and that new government must look at the issues of sanctions. All those things are completely unrelated to the centre of our problem - which is a governance crisis that must be resolved by Zimbabweans agreeing to reform our political system, followed by free and fair elections and a legitimate government that has a clear mandate to govern."

There have been mixed reactions to the signing of the MoU.
Analyst Charles Mbooni said Tsvangirai had been left with no choice but to enter into negotiations, as elections were no longer an alternative for him because a brutal campaign had decimated his party structures.

However, political science lecturer Dr Eldred Masunungure believes that President Mugabe also had no other alternative, because Russia and China's veto on proposed UN sanctions on his governemnt "put him in a corner" to accept the talks.

"The veto put them (ZANU-PF) in a corner to support the negotiations. Now it's payback time," said Dr Masunungure.

World leaders have also welcomed the agreement on the framework for talks.

Sweden has said it was an important step but that to succeed, the parties needed to be serious in their desire to achieve results.

"If Zimbabwe is to have a legitimate and democratically accepted government it is important that the negotiations are based on the outcome of the parliamentary elections on March 29 and that that result is respected.

Continued international pressure is also required. As regional organisations, the AU and the SADC in particular have a key role to play in this," said foreign affairs minister Carl Bildt.

Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma said this was a significant step in the right direction, which would initiate a dialogue towards promoting peace, stability, democracy, prosperity and the reconciliation of the Zimbabwean people.

The US government said it would watch the talks closely and voiced support for a negotiation process "that leads to a result that expresses the will of the Zimbabwean people."

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon encouraged all sides to engage in good meaningful dialogue.