Regional leaders to salvage Zimbabwe unity deal
Zimbabwe: Southern African leaders will meet Monday in a new
push to salvage Zimbabwe’s stalled unity deal, four months after
President Robert Mugabe and rival Morgan Tsvangirai agreed to share
power.
South African President Kgalema Motlanthe will host the 15 state
Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit in Pretoria after
renewed talks to set up a new government failed in Harare last week.
The negotiations take place as the European Union slaps fresh
sanctions on Mugabe’s rule, and as the country battles an unchecked
cholera epidemic that has killed nearly 2,800 people and infected more
than 50,000.
Regional leaders see the unity agreement, which calls for 84-year-old
Mugabe to remain as president while Tsvangirai becomes prime minister,
as the best chance to break Zimbabwe’s political stand-off and economic
collapse.
But the deal is teetering on the verge of collapse over a protracted
dispute over which party will control top public posts, including the
home affairs ministry which oversees the police.
Johannesburg, Sunday, AFP |