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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Zimbabwe's Mugabe Asserts Claim on Ministries |
| 2008-10-12 |
| Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has asserted claim to disputed government ministries, outraging the opposition and imperiling a fragile power-sharing agreement signed three weeks ago. The state-owned Herald newspaper published a list Saturday that handed the ruling ZANU-PF party several powerful ministries, including defense, justice, foreign affairs and home affairs -- which controls Zimbabwe's police. Those cabinet posts would essentially secure Mugabe's 28-year grip on power and make the recent deal meaningless. The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the main opposition party, denounced the list as a "midnight ambush" by ZANU-PF and said no agreement on ministries had been reached. The opposition released a list depicting its own "general understanding" of the state of negotiations and showing justice, home affairs and foreign affairs under MDC control. "It is a giant act of madness which puts the whole deal in jeopardy," MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said in a statement. The ruling party, the MDC and a splinter opposition party have been squabbling for weeks over 31 cabinet slots. On Friday, the parties agreed to summon former South African president Thabo Mbeki, who brokered the power-sharing deal, to help break the deadlock, news services reported. "ZANU-PF cannot nocturnally allocate ministries barely hours after the three principals agreed to disagree by referring the matter to the mediator after a logjam over all key ministries," Chamisa said. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Color me surprised! |
| Posted by: Frank G 2008-10-12 06:32 |