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ZIMBABWE: New coalition to challenge ruling party
IRIN News
July 31, 2006

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54913

HARARE - Zimbabwean opposition political parties, churches and civil society groups appear to have taken the first step in forming a broad alliance to confront the ruling ZANU-PF party.

The alliance, dubbed 'Save Zimbabwe', invited a cross-section of Zimbabwean society to debate the best way forward to end the political and economic crises facing the country at a convention at the weekend organised by the Christian Alliance, a multi-denominational grouping.

ZANU-PF was invited but did not attend the event because, according to justice minister Patrick Chinamasa, "we do not want to be told what to do". The government has a healthy majority in parliament, although the opposition has questioned the fairness of past polls.

Morgan Tsvangirai, president of the anti-senate faction of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), and Prof Arthur Mutambara, president of the pro-senate faction, met in public for the first time since the MDC split over support for the reconstitution of the senate in 2005, and pledged to forge an alliance to unseat the ruling party. Zimbabwe is provisionally set to hold presidential elections in 2008.

The two leaders were joined by the presidents of other political parties, who have promised to form a united front. "We now make a pledge that we just don't speak unity within the opposition but that we act the unity. We as the political leaders are the ones who can unite or divide the people," said Tsvangirai.

Mutambara said he was prepared to surrender his presidency under a broad alliance, on "condition that we return to the founding values of the MDC, which include non-violence and respect for the constitution." Details of how the coalition would be formalised are yet to be finalised.

The convention passed four resolutions: the need to form a unified broad-based platform in the fight for democracy; the urgent need to come up with a new constitution; the adoption of a democracy charter ensuring equality among all Zimbabweans; the need to engage regional and international organisations in creating a better understanding of the Zimbabwean crises, with a roadmap for forcing the government to the negotiating table.

"There is need for sustainable democratic confrontation and mass resistance to create a situation where the government is compelled to talk to its people to resolve the crisis. These should include resistance, targeted towards bread-and-butter issues through boycotts, stayaways, defying unjust laws, demonstrations and prayer marches," read part of the resolution.

Benjamin Mkapa, a former Tanzanian head of state, has been asked by regional leaders to help find a solution to the divide between President Robert Mugabe and an opposition that rejects the legitimacy of his government. Delegates said they saw no problem with Mkapa acting as mediator, although it was important that he meet a cross-section of Zimbabwean society and not view the Zimbabwean crisis as a bilateral impasse between London and Harare.

According to President Mugabe, the crisis in the country stems from a confrontation between Zimbabwe and Britain, the former colonial power, which he alleges controls the MDC.

However, Jacob Mafume, of the pro-democracy Crisis Coalition, disagreed that talks with London were needed. "It is not the people of Britain who have inflation pegged at more than 1,000 percent; it is not the people of Britain who have the shortest lifespan in the world. It is the people of Zimbabwe who need to be engaged," Mafume told IRIN.

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