Occasional Zimbabwe Blogger » Unity government

Key Points

maehara — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 10:54:25 +0000

Cross-party National Economic Council to oversee economic recovery efforts.
Call for international sanctions to be lifted – important re: those that US sanctions prevent Zimbabwe from using IMF or World Bank support.
Independent Land Commission to oversee redistribution in a non-partisan way. Compensation of dispossessed commercial farmers falls to UK.
Draft Constitution to be prepared – no fixed timescale. Specific reference to “enhancement of full citizenship” – possible relaxation of current rules?
“No outsiders have a right to call or campaign for regime change in Zimbabwe” – that would be a Zanu-PF clause, I’m guessing…
“all Zimbabweans regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, political affiliation and religion have the right to benefit from and participate in all national programmes and events without let or hindrance.” – as a supporter of Zimbabwean cricket, but not of ZC – that could be interpreted as a proscription against racial quotas in national teams.
Guarantee of free political activity
Guarantee of freedom of assembly and association, with retraining mandated for security services to ensure they understand this
Impartiality of the civil service
Political neutrality of traditional leaders
Political neutrality of National Youth Training Programme, and ban on use of programme participants for partisan work
Political neutrality of aid programmes, including NGOs
Press freedom – outstanding applications for broadcast / newspaper licenses to be processed immediately
Dissolving parliament requires both President and Prime Minister agreement
Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee to oversee implementation (4 members from each of the three signatory parties)
Annual review

Government structure:

If it seems a little cumbersome, that’s because it is. That said, if Northern Ireland can run with 4 opposed parties in enforced coaltion, then this can be made to work too – if there’s the will on both sides to make it happen. That’s a big if.

Agreement Text

maehara — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 09:55:29 +0000

Sokwanele have the text of the agreement, which I’m currently ploughing through. Happy reading.

Done Deal?

maehara — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 08:50:19 +0000

No, I haven’t given up following the shenanigans around the MDC / Zanu-PF talks – I just didn’t see the point in writing about them given the lack of hard information. Now, though, we apparently have a deal, which was initially due to be signed at 10am Zimbabwe time this morning – that’s about a hour and a half ago. The UK news media have yet to confirm that the signing actually happened, though.

So for the moment, I’m awaiting the details along with everyone else. The bones of the deal are public – Mugabe as President & Head of State with control of the military, Tsvangirai as Prime Minister and Head of Government with control of the police; with a cabinet of 31 ministers (15 Zanu-PF, 13 MDC/T, 3 MDC/M) and 15 deputy ministers (8 Zanu-PF, 6 MDC/T and 1 MDC/M). But the devil is in the detail, and who gets what portfolio and their willingness to co-operate is key. Portfolios will be known today, apparently – but with state media already warning about MDC being the “enemy within”, co-operation looks to be more difficult to guarantee.

More thoughts once the details are in the public domain and I’ve had the chance to read them…

UPDATE: …and the signing ceremony is apparently underway.