Some Zimbabwe opposition leaders are unhappy with a complicated deal that sees Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe relinquishing some power, officials said yesterday.
Two officials said the breakthrough gives opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai control of the government and the police force that has been terrorizing the opposition.
Mugabe would control defense forces under the deal agreed on Thursday night after three months of tortured negotiations.
The two officials said Tsvangirai broke a deadlock by proposing a Council of State made up of Mugabe and two of his party’s deputies, and Tsvangirai and two of his deputies.
Two officials said Tsvangirai will be in charge of the Cabinet and Mugabe will be in charge of the Council.
The Council of State — which acts as an overseer of the Cabinet’s activities — is important since it gives Mugabe a significant role in government. This apparently led him to compromise and broke a deadlock in the talks.
Mugabe will have no veto powers on the Council, though its role remains unclear. However, two other officials said some opposition leaders are unhappy about the complicated deal.
Five officials spoke yesterday on condition of anonymity because of a media blackout.
Under the deal, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) gets most seats in the Cabinet, 16 to 15 for Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF). Tsvangirai’s party gets eight deputy ministries, Mugabe’s six and one goes to a breakaway opposition faction led by Arthur Mutambara.
The officials said the deal is detailed in a lengthy and complicated document that will take all weekend to prepare.
One official said the deal includes disbanding the southern African nation’s feared Central Intelligence Organization, which like the police comes under the mantle of the Ministry of Home Affairs, and replacing it with a smaller, more efficient National Security Authority.
It should be signed on Monday in Harare in the presence of South African President Thabo Mbeki and other regional presidents who mandated Mbeki to negotiate the peace agreement for the Southern African Development Community.
Mbeki was the man of the hour after clinching the hard-won power-sharing deal yesterday.
Welcoming Thursday’s agreement, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon praised Mbeki’s “tireless efforts to help them [the Zimbabwean leaders] reach it.”
“He [Ban] hopes that this agreement will pave the way for a durable peace and recovery in the country and contribute to rapid improvement in the welfare and human rights of the people of Zimbabwe, who have suffered too long,” the UN chief’s office said in a statement.
South Africa’s ruling African National Congress, which is led by Mbeki’s rival Jacob Zuma, also described the deal as a “remarkable achievement” for Mbeki.
Analysts and Western observers reacted with caution however, saying the “devil would be in the detail.”
Western powers have said they would only support a government in which Tsvangirai was in charge.
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