HARARE, December 11, 2009 – Zimbabwe’s political leaders are on Monday expected to announce the outcome of the latest round of talks whichwere called by the SADC troika in Maputo, Mozambique early last month.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said Thursday evening the three principals will meet on Monday to consider the outcome of the negotiations and make a possible announcement.
“I am hoping that we would be able to announce some position as towhat has been the outcome of the negotiating process as well as ensuring that some of the outstanding issues are resolved,” Tsvangirai said, as he received the new United States ambassador to Zimbabwe,Charles A. Ray at his house in Harare’s low density Strathaven suburb.
“The principals are scheduled to meet on Monday and we have both been briefed by our teams, so we will meet to consider the reports andwhere there are deadlocks, we try to find a political solution to it.Certainly we cannot go on and on for ever and this is the message that has been communicated to us by the South African facilitation team andwe hope we will be able to announce them.
“We must be conscious that we do not break our own deadlines and thatis what I was communicating to the facilitators and the facilitators are also anxious to ensure that we have credibility in the process andso we have a further meeting with the principals to try and receive reports from our various negotiators.”
However, Tsvangirai could not be drawn into revealing what issues would be announced although it is expected that the issues like theZimbabwe Media Commission and the Electoral Commission would be announced.
A South African facilitation team that was appointed by PresidentJacob Zuma has twice been to Zimbabwe in as many weeks to press Zimbabwe’s parties into respecting the November 5 deadline set by SADC.
The MDC seeks the reversal of all unilateral appointments made by President Robert Mugabe after the signing of the GPA in September last year.
They include those of the Attorney General, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor, provincial governors and ambassadors.
The MDC also wants its treasurer general Roy Bennett, who is currently being tried for terrorism, to be unconditionally sworn into his position as deputy minister of agriculture.
It is also seeking a stop to continued invasions on productive farmsby Zanu PF supporters, state media bias, the failure by the National Security Council to meet regularly and the continued arrest of its activists.
Zanu PF wants the MDC to unequivocally commit itself to making calls for the lifting of western imposed targeted sanctions on its officials and businesses and the dissolution of the so-called parallel government structures.
But Tsvangirai said the removal of sanctions was a collective responsibility as opposed to that of his party alone.
“It is wrong to imply that MDC has liability over those issues. This is a collective liability as a nation and therefore that collective liability must be resolved collectively especially when it comes to ensuring that we comply with the benchmarks set by those people who set out those restrictions,” said Tsvangirai.
Source:radiovop.com/
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