JOHANNESBURG – The European Union (EU) presidency on Wednesday urged Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to swiftly implement a power-sharing agreement he signed with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, and end a fallout that is threatening to collapse the country’s coalition administration.
The EU presidency – currently held by Sweden – in a statement also called on Mugabe, who formed a unity government with Tsvangirai last February to end a political crisis following inconclusive elections last year, to speed up democratic reforms.
The statement follows last week’s decision by Tsvangirai and his MDC party to boycott all cooperation with Mugabe and his ZANU PF party, blaming the veteran leader’s failure to fully implement the Global Political Agreement (GPA) that gave birth to the unity government.
Sweden took a swipe at hardliners in Mugabe’s ZANU PF party whom it accused of retarding meaningful progress towards implementation of the power-sharing pact which the EU said was "the key to re-engagement" with the southern African country.
"However, elements within (Mugabe's party) have consistently failed to accept real power sharing and to demonstrate a willingness to assist in the implementation of the reforms to which they have committed," the statement said.
The EU called on the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and South Africa – brokers of Zimbabwe’s power-sharing agreement – "to make all efforts to create a constructive environment in which outstanding issues can be resolved" to end the current crisis.
The MDC announced a boycott of the country's power-sharing government, saying it will not “sit in meetings with an unreliable and unrepentant partner” after the re-arrest and detention of Tsvangirai’s to ally Roy Bennett on terrorism charges.
The former opposition party, which says the charges against Bennett are political, says Mugabe’s prosecution of Bennett is a further breach of the GPA under which Mugabe undertook to halt all political prosecutions.
* Zimonline
