Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said on Friday he would only implement terms of an agreement he signed in 2008 with rival Morgan Tsvangirai if the West removed sanctions on his allies.
Mugabe and Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Tsvangirai, now prime minister, formed a coalition government last year but the fragile marriage has been rocked by disputes about how to share executive power.
South African President Jacob Zuma, who is mediating in Zimbabwe, held talks with the two rivals last week and said Mugabe’s ZANU-PF and Tsvangirai’s MDC had agreed a package of measures to rescue the unity government.
But on Friday Mugabe said there was no such package and his party would only make concessions if sanctions imposed on ZANU-PF members and a freeze on financial aid on Zimbabwe were scrapped by the West.
The MDC wants its treasurer-general Roy Bennett sworn-in as deputy agriculture minister, appointment of five of its senior officials to positions of provincial governors and for Mugabe to sack the attorney general and central bank governor.
“It’s nonsensical for anyone to expect us to move on these issues when we are burdened with sanctions, not only as persons but as a country, that the MDC has asked for,” Mugabe told hundreds of party members attending a ZANU-PF central committee meeting in Harare on Friday.
“The sanctions must go, must go. If they don’t go there will be no concession that we will make, none whatsoever,” Mugabe said to cheers from the ZANU-PF members.
His comments put a dampener on talks between ZANU-PF and MDC negotiators to deal with “outstanding matters.” The talks, which began on Thursday and were continuing on Friday are expected to end tomorrow.
The negotiators would then report to Zuma on March 31, after which Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) troika chairman Mozambican President Armando Guebuza may call a meeting to discuss the deal.
Guebuza leads the SADC political organ that also involves Swaziland’s King Mswati III and Zambian President Rupiah Banda
Mugabe said his allies, central bank governor Gideon Gono and Attorney-General Johannes Tomana, would not be sacked.
“They are not going at all. Tomana and Gono will remain with us,” Mugabe said.
The 86-year-old argues the MDC should lobby its allies in the West to remove sanctions and stop what ZANU-PF calls “pirate radio stations.”
The veteran leader is largely blamed for running down a once prosperous economy through policies such as the seizure of white-owned commercial farms to resettle blacks and lately plans to force foreign-owned firms to cede majority control to locals.
Mugabe accuses former colonial power Britain of mobilizing its Western allies to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe as punishment for the land seizures.
Nauru has started selling passports to fund climate action, but is so far struggling to attract new citizens to the low-lying, largely barren island in the Pacific Ocean. Nauru, one of the world’s smallest nations, has a novel plan to fund its fight against climate change by selling so-called “Golden Passports.” Selling for US$105,000 each, Nauru plans to drum up more than US$5 million in the first year of the “climate resilience citizenship” program. Almost six months after the scheme opened in February, Nauru has so far approved just six applications — covering two families and four individuals. Despite the slow start —
MOGAMI-CLASS FRIGATES: The deal is a ‘big step toward elevating national security cooperation with Australia, which is our special strategic partner,’ a Japanese official said Australia is to upgrade its navy with 11 Mogami-class frigates built by Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles said yesterday. Billed as Japan’s biggest defense export deal since World War II, Australia is to pay US$6 billion over the next 10 years to acquire the fleet of stealth frigates. Australia is in the midst of a major military restructure, bolstering its navy with long-range firepower in an effort to deter China. It is striving to expand its fleet of major warships from 11 to 26 over the next decade. “This is clearly the biggest defense-industry agreement that has ever
North Korean troops have started removing propaganda loudspeakers used to blare unsettling noises along the border, South Korea’s military said on Saturday, days after Seoul’s new administration dismantled ones on its side of the frontier. The two countries had already halted propaganda broadcasts along the demilitarized zone, Seoul’s military said in June after the election of South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, who is seeking to ease tensions with Pyongyang. The South Korean Ministry of National Defense on Monday last week said it had begun removing loudspeakers from its side of the border as “a practical measure aimed at helping ease
DEADLY TASTE TEST: Erin Patterson tried to kill her estranged husband three times, police said in one of the major claims not heard during her initial trial Australia’s recently convicted mushroom murderer also tried to poison her husband with bolognese pasta and chicken korma curry, according to testimony aired yesterday after a suppression order lapsed. Home cook Erin Patterson was found guilty last month of murdering her husband’s parents and elderly aunt in 2023, lacing their beef Wellington lunch with lethal death cap mushrooms. A series of potentially damning allegations about Patterson’s behavior in the lead-up to the meal were withheld from the jury to give the mother-of-two a fair trial. Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale yesterday rejected an application to keep these allegations secret. Patterson tried to kill her
RSS