Zimbabwe's Mugabe, opposition agree to share power
The president would remain in his post, and Morgan Tsvangirai would become prime minister.
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA — Zimbabwe's political rivals have reached a power-sharing deal in which President Robert Mugabe would stay on as president and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai would become prime minister.
The deal comes after weeks of talks following Tsvangirai's withdrawal from a presidential runoff election because of violence against activists of his Movement for Democratic Change, or MDC.
Western and African observers criticized the election as undemocratic.
South African President Thabo Mbeki, mediator of talks between Mugabe and Tsvangirai, said today that details of the deal would be made public Monday, when it is to be signed at a ceremony where regional leaders are present.
According to diplomats and people close to the ruling ZANU-PF party and the MDC, the deal calls for a new council of ministers to be headed by Tsvangirai.
Mugabe would lead a parallel Cabinet. The details of how the bodies would work together and resolve contradictions were not clear.
The Joint Operations Command, which consists of security and military chiefs, would be renamed the National Security Council. A person close to the government said Mugabe would retain the chairmanship of that body.
One Harare diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, expressed concern that the opposition would have little chance of holding its own.
Mbeki said that only a deal made by Zimbabweans themselves, not one imposed from outside, would stick.
"It's a decision of the leaders of Zimbabwe," Mbeki said at a news conference, "because we have insisted that there's no settlement or solution anywhere in the world that would survive if the people of the particular country don't own it."
"It's made in Zimbabwe; it's made by Zimbabweans. The rest of the world needs to respect that the people of Zimbabwe have taken a decision about their own country," Mbeki said.
robyn.dixon@latimes.com
