West poised to 'help' Zimbabwe…
Though President Mbeki, the mediator, gave no details when he announced the deal last night in Harare, sources said Mugabe would remain president and would still chair cabinet. Tsvangirai would chair a new council of ministers - from which Mugabe would be excluded - which would assist in the formulation of policies, the supervision of government ministries by the prime minister and implementation of cabinet policies.

Hallo,

in dem Spiegelbericht, auf den Volker hinweist heißt es so nett, Mugabe versuche \"ich auch weiterhin seinen Anteil an der Macht zu sichern\".

Aus anderen Quellen, leider nicht aus dem \"deutschen Nachrichtenmagazin\" kann man erfahren, das es um den Oberbefehl über das Militär, die Polizei und andere ebenso unwesentliche Verwaltungsbereiche geht, die bisher legal oder illegal von Mugabe zum Erhalt seiner Macht mißbraucht wurden. Daher kann ich die Skepsis von Yoshikawa sehr gut verstehen.

Und zu Südafrika: Immerhin existieren dort (noch?) Bedingungen, wo Gesetze nicht nur auf dem Papier stehen und Gerichte eben nach solchen Gesetzen entscheiden können, auch wenn ein politischer Druck spürbar ist. Keine behauptet wohl, darin ein Musterbeispiel eines Rechtsstaates zu finden - aber Unterschiede zu Zimbabwe kann doch niemand übersehen. Da habe ich jedenfalls mit meinem Maßstab keine Probleme. Außerdem sorgt die WM für massive Öffentlichkeit, auch das sollte niemand unterschätzen.

Viele Grüße

jaw

Basildon Peta: Call this progress? Not if you care about Zimbabwe
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How will Mr Tsvangirai revive Zimbabwe's agro-based economy without reversing Mr Mugabe's destructive land reforms and taking land back from incompetent cronies and redistributing it among Zimbabweans who can actually farm, both black and white.

How will Mr Tsvangirai persuade investors to come, without entirely repealing unsustainable empowerment laws which prescribe majority shareholding by black Zimbabweans in all firms? How will Mr Tsvangirai endeavour to accommodate international donor prescriptions for aid without being accused of compromising on national sovereignty?

Until yesterday, the power-sharing agreement itself was a status symbol. You could not access a copy unless you were Messrs Tsvangirai, Mbeki, Mugabe or Mutambara, or one of their few close associates involved in the negotiations. The outcome of the talks is hardly based on the will of the people. It is not dependant on the masses, but on the extent to which the elites who packaged the agreement are willing to cohabit with each other – a potential recipe for disaster.

There is something nauseating, if not tragic, about African politics. It happened in Kenya. Now in Zimbabwe. A bad precedent is being entrenched. After losing elections, incumbent dictators bludgeon their opponents and find their way to the negotiating tables and thereafter cling to power.
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Nutty Bob’s bizarre speech stuns world
It was clear from his speech that the formation of an inclusive government — the parties begin horse-trading today — will not be smooth sailing.

From accusing the opposition of using violent means to take power, to taking a dig at Botswana President Ian Khama — one of the few African leaders to have criticised Mugabe openly — it was a vintage performance by the octogenarian.

At one point, Morgan Tsvangirai, who will be Zimbabwe’s prime minister, looked both exasperated and bemused by Mugabe’s antics on stage.

Zimbabwe settlement. Frederik van Zyl Slabbert – political analyst
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ALEC HOGG: It appears as though stability any time soon might be a forlorn hope?

FREDERIK VAN ZYL SLABBERT: Well, I can't see investors rushing in there to help with economic revival, economic development. The European Union is still sort of backing off, taking a look-and-see attitude; they want more detail. It's a country desperately in need of economic revival - you just have to look at the agricultural situation to realise this. But also it's not a highly urbanised country. You've got two towns, if you want to call them that. You've got Harare and Bulawayo. You can fit 50 of them into Soweto. So I really don't know how they think they can achieve stability by entering into a power-sharing deal in which, as you say, you have an executive president with the army under his control and an executive prime minister supposedly in control of the police. It seems to me a recipe for conflict.

Supporters clash outside Rainbow Towers
HARARE - Supporters of the Zanu-PF and the two factions of the Movement for Democratic Change clashed outside the Rainbow Towers hotel after the signing of the power sharing deal between the two parties.

Riot police were called in to restore order as the clashes intensified.