12 September 2008
U.S. Officials Waiting for Assessment of Zimbabwe Deal
State Department says agreement must reflect results of March 29 vote
Washington — U.S. officials are withholding comment on a power-sharing deal between Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe and Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai pending their study of the agreement.
The agreement was announced September 11 after weeks of negotiations mediated by South African President Thabo Mbeki.
“Clearly … Mr. Tsvangirai is comfortable with the deal, so I would expect in the coming hours and days we’ll have an assessment of it,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters September 12.
McCormack said Bush administration officials are beginning to get details of the agreement, but said he would “withhold any more definitive comment” until he thinks “we have a full understanding of it.”
He repeated the U.S. position that any power-sharing arrangement between Mugabe’s ruling Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and the opposition MDC “must reflect the will of the Zimbabwean people as expressed through the ballot box during their last election,” which took place March 29. (See “United States Wants Zimbabwe Talks to Express Popular Will.”)
In that election, MDC candidates won a majority of the country’s parliamentary seats and Tsvangirai received more presidential votes than Mugabe. However, the opposition leader did not earn enough votes to avoid a runoff election.
In the weeks before the June 27 presidential runoff, Mugabe’s government and ZANU-PF activists engaged in a sustained campaign of violence and intimidation against MDC supporters, real and suspected, and halted the activities of foreign aid workers. The MDC says 200 of its supporters were killed.
Tsvangirai decided to pull out of the election rather than continue to endanger his voters, and Mugabe declared himself the victor, but he has faced international condemnation and isolation as well as increased sanctions against his regime by the United States and the European Union. (See “U.S. Sanctions Tightened Against Zimbabwe Regime.”)
A senior State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that although the United States has not yet decided on a definitive response to the political deal, “certainly, it is a turn in the right direction.”
Amid its political turmoil and international isolation, Zimbabwe has continued to see its economy shrink and has an inflation rate of 11 million percent.
Asked if the agreement could mean that sanctions against ZANU-PF and its affiliates might be lifted, the official said: “We’ll see. We’ll see if it does mean anything.”
