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Harare handshake opens doors
Percy Zvomuya, Mail & Guardian (SA)
August 07, 2006

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=280016&area=/insight/insight__africa/

It has been described at once as "historic," "symbolic" and an incident to be handled with caution. But what should really be made of the meeting of opposition leaders that saw rivals Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara hugging and pledging to work together? Tsvangirai heads the main anti-Senate grouping of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) while Mutambara leads the pro-Senate camp. The two had never met in public since Mutambara joined the political fray earlier this year.

While Tsvangirai’s secretary, Tendai Biti, described it as "important" and "historic", some analysts don’t want to read too much into the meeting. "I don’t want to invest much importance into the meeting," University of Zimbabwe analyst Eldred Masungunure said this week. "A lot of ground has to be covered before they have a common position on the problems bedevilling the country."

The meeting, convened by the Bishop Levee Kadenge-led Christian Alliance, included a broad section of civic and political leaders. The Harare meeting was attended by leaders of smaller opposition parties as well, including Daniel Shumba of the United People’s Party, Zapu Federal Party’s Paul Siwela and Wurayayi Zembe of the Democratic Party.

Masungunure argued that the conditions Mutambara set for unity are similar to those that created the split in the first place. 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".

Masungunure was pessimistic, noting that the "two are not likely to meet beyond the physical meetings". While welcoming the meeting, Jonah Gokova of the Christian Alliance spoke of it as a beginning. "There is a lot of work that needs to be done. For now there is just that handshake. But it has opened doors for further communication. They should be encouraged," he said.

Gokova said internal dialogue was essential before the country engages foreigners. Turning to former Tanzanian president Benjamin Mkapa’s mediation attempts in Zimbabwe’s dispute with Britain, Gokova said that "Mkapa must have an agenda that emphasises the fact that Zimbabweans must have dialogue among themselves. Dialogue between Zimbabwe and Britain is secondary to the dialogue among Zimbabweans ourselves."

The delegates emphasised the need to form a 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 and 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.

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