(NEWZIMBABWE) SADC leans heavily on Tsvangirai to share Home Affairs

SADC leans heavily on Tsvangirai to share Home Affairs
Posted to the web: 10/11/2008 14:41:23

ZIMBABWE'S feuding politicians must form a government of national unity "immediately" if they want the support of the SADC, a leading official of the regional bloc warned Monday.

Tomaz Salomao, executive secretary of the 15-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC), was speaking after a special summit called Sunday by the organisation failed to break the impasse on forming a unity government.

"We will be there to assist them, help them and try to bring them together but under one condition: the government of national unity has to be formed immediately," Salomao told South African public radio station SA FM.

"Now it is up to the three parties in Zimbabwe to decide how they want to proceed," he added.

"But what is important to note is we cannot afford to postpone the formation of the government of national unity," he said.

Salomao reiterated SADC's proposal of co-sharing the home affairs ministry between the ruling Zanu PF and the main opposition MDC led by Morgan Tsvangirai as a way out of the deadlock.

"And within six months, the parties are free to assess and evaluate the effectiveness of the co-sharing. If they feel that that is not the best way, then they can decide on the best way to push it."

After 12 hours of closed-door talks, the 15-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) failed to prod President Robert Mugabe into a compromise with opposition MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

Salomao rejected a suggestion that the SADC has reached the end of the road of mediation following Tsvangirai's rejection of the body's compromise proposal.

"We did not (reach the end of the road in mediation). SADC was asked to rule and SADC took a decision and that's the position of SADC. Now it's up to the parties to implement," he said.

The summit's final communique called for the Zimbabwean rivals to form a unity government immediately and to share control of the disputed home affairs ministry, which oversees the police.

But Tsvangirai, who defeated Mugabe in the first-round of the presidential election in March, rejected their proposal as unworkable.

"The MDC is shocked and saddened that the SADC summit has failed to tackle these key issues ... a great opportunity has been missed by SADC to bring an end to the Zimbabwean crisis," Tsvangirai said at a post-summit news conference.

He added: "Perversely, pressure was brought to bear on the MDC, a party that won an election but has shown compromise and political maturity in these negotiations rather than the party that lost an election and has flouted the spirit and substance of the agreement, namely Zanu PF."

"Mugabe is not the President of Zimbabwe without this agreement," he added, saying that the MDC "hope and pray that the guarantors of the agreement, in particular progressive members of SADC and the African Union, will now move very quickly to try and salvage this agreement".

A source inside the meeting described Mugabe as "extremely contemptuous" of Tsvangirai, interrupting him during his presentation. When the MDC leader said he had won the March 29 election, in which he came first but without a big enough margin to avoid a run-off, Mugabe shouted: "You didn't! You didn't!"

"Our situation is not a domestic issue, it is a foreign issue," Mugabe told the heads of state, expounding on his anti-Western mindset. "Home Affairs is part of security and I as President have greater superintendence."

The formation of a government of national unity has been deadlocked over the distribution of key ministries, especially the Home Affairs, which oversees the police.