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Robert Mugabe seeks dominant role in coalition government
Peta Thornycroft, The Telegraph (UK)
August 08, 2008

View this article on The Telegraph website

President Robert Mugabe is insisting on retaining substantial power in any coalition government that may emerge from a deal to end Zimbabwe's crisis, a senior source in Harare has said.

Mr Mugabe's stance could paralyse the talks between his Zanu-PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, despite speculation that a settlement is imminent.

A source close to the negotiations said that the key question of dividing executive power between Mr Mugabe and his key opponent, Morgan Tsvangirai, in any new government had yet to be settled.

"Zanu-PF launched murder and blood to protect executive power," he said. "If anyone thinks they are going to go to an air-conditioned room to surrender executive power they are dreaming."

Mr Mugabe will seek to keep enough power to be the dominant figure in a government of national unity which would include - and perhaps neutralise - Mr Tsvangirai.

When the two men shook hands on July 21, they signed a "memorandum of understanding" promising to end all political violence. But mobs loyal to Mr Mugabe have murdered at least three people since that occasion.

Zanu-PF thugs are still roaming parts of the country, assaulting suspected opposition supporters, imposing curfews and refusing to allow villagers who have fled the violence to return home.

The three who are known to have been killed include one policeman. The MDC believes that Zanu-PF still has 55 bases across Zimbabwe, manned by its hired gangs, where opposition supporters are taken for beatings and torture.

The president also promised to lift the ban on distributing humanitarian aid. But relief agencies remain barred from operating in hungry rural areas and cannot give food to anyone with the exception of those with HIV-Aids.

"We cannot go out there, that is fact. Until we receive a letter undoing the ban preventing us from doing field work, we are stuck in Harare," said the country director of a large emergency feeding project who says many Zimbabweans need food now as the summer's crops were probably the worst ever.

Trevor Gifford, director of the Commercial Farmers' Union, said the last handful of white farmers were still facing threats and violence. "We wonder if this escalation in the last week is connected to negotiations as some ministers are not going to survive into a new administration so they are making good now."

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