(TALKZIMBABWE) Tsvangirai presents new demands, Brown wants more power for the opposition
Tsvangirai presents new demands, Brown wants more power for the oppositionOur reporter
Thu, 11 Sep 2008 15:41:00 +0000
MOVEMENT for Democratic Change leader, Morgan Tsvangirai yesterday presented the other two principals to the inter-party dialogue being facilitated by South African President Thabo Mbeki with some more demands, according to the Herald newspaper.
The demands were known by the foreign press before the other principals had been presented with them.
According to the daily, Tsvangirai reportedly demanded the creation of a National Security Council (NSC) that would be headed by the Prime Minister and would be responsible for "making recommendations to, and advising Cabinet on policy issues" and would be comprised “of all Cabinet ministers”.
The negotiators rejected the proposal arguing that the "ministers would be recommending policy issues to themselves in Cabinet" and this would be grossly irresponsible.
Interestingly western media were already reporting on the NSC before it had been discussed or tabled in the all-party talks. The United Kingdom’s Guardian newspaper reported on the NSC yesterday before Tsvangirai had tabled it to the negotiating team. It said in its online edition: “Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change was proposing that its leader should become prime minister, with authority over ministers, while Mugabe would chair a new national security council, with control over some of the security forces.”
The BBC – on its website – also reported the story yesterday at 08:05 hrs, several hours before the resumption of the all-party talks and before the MDC had presented the new proposal of an NSC to the principals. A report on the site said: “Source in Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) say they are now proposing that Mr Tsvangirai be named prime minister, with full authority over all the ministers, while President Mugabe chairs a new National Security Council.”
Zimbabwe’s diplomatic representatives in the United States yesterday told the Herald that some American media outlets had been asking them to confirm whether President Mugabe had agreed to the creation of the NSC even though the matter had not yet been presented or discussed at the talks.
“This fuelled speculation among negotiators that Tsvangirai had been instructed by Washington to make this demand and this belief was bolstered by indications by intelligence sources that the opposition leader met with US Ambassador to Zimbabwe James McGee before going to the talks venue,” reports the paper.
Tsvangirai is also said to have attended yesterday’s talks with a brand new team of lawyers who had hitherto never attended the talks.
"The presence of the lawyers irked President Mbeki and the other negotiators who told him that their attendance indicated Tsvangirai had come to argue rather than to negotiate. They only left after it was made clear that their presence would not be tolerated in the closed-door discussions," insiders revealed to the Herald.
Talks are reported to have started today at 4PM (2PM GMT) after President Mugabe had asked for time to attend a meeting of traditional chiefs in the second largest city of Bulawayo and to give the mediator, President Mbeki, time to consult with negotiators from Zanu PF and the MDC factions.
BROWN WANTS MORE POWER FOR THE OPPOSITION
Meanwhile British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the negotiators must forge a power-sharing deal that reflects the outcome of the March 29 elections.
"We want an outcome that reflects the democratic will of the Zimbabwe people," Brown, who is premier of Zimbabwe’s former colonizer, told his monthly news conference.
"We want an outcome particularly that reflects the election that was the first election when obviously the MDC party showed that it had popular support," he said, referring to the first round poll which failed to produce an outright winner.
None of the candidates secured the 50 plus one percent vote required to form a government, triggering a runoff presidential election won by President Mugabe after the MDC-T leader boycotted it, citing increasing level of violence. In a joint communiqué issued by the two parties, the MDC-T leader accepted that his party was also involved in the violence.
Brown said Britain hoped for "a transition so that it is possible for the MDC and those people who have been legitimately elected to be able to have their legitimate place in the government of Zimbabwe."
"We will judge our response by the extent to which that has happened," Brown added.
Labels: COLOUR REVOLUTIONS, GORDON BROWN, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, NEGOTIATIONS
posted by MrK @ 5:50 PM
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