by Tichaona Chifamba
HARARE, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- The future of Zimbabwe's inclusive government hangs in the balance following the decision by President Robert Mugabe's party not to entertain any demands from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's party on outstanding issues in the Global Political Agreement which are affecting the smooth running of the inclusive government.
The latest impasse comes amid reports that political violence has once again erupted in Tsvangirai's rural home area, which has been a political hotbed for a long time now, while the MDC has declared a deadlock in the talks over Zanu-PF's alleged refusal to fully implement the Global Political Agreement.
Mugabe's Zanu-PF party on Wednesday decided that it should not entertain any more demands from Tsvangirai's MDC until sanctions imposed by Britain, the European Union and the United States at the height of Zimbabwe's political crisis are lifted.
However, political analyst and University of Zimbabwe lecturer John Makumbe told Xinhua in an interview on Thursday that Zanu-PF would be fooling itself if it thought it would no longer make any more concessions.
"If they are saying no more concessions, they are basically saying they will not resolve the outstanding issues, and then the matter will have to be referred back to SADC (Southern African Development Community). It will be interesting for Zanu-PF to tell SADC that it is not making any more concessions, because that will be the end of the GPA and the end of the government of national unity, and elections will have to be held," he said.
The inclusive government is a child of the GPA, which came about after the disputed presidential election and lack of an outright winner in the 2008 parliamentary elections. Mugabe thus remained president, Tsvangirai became prime minister and Arthur Mutambara of the smaller MDC faction became deputy prime minister.
SADC is the guarantor of the GPA and has called on all the parties in the agreement to resolve outstanding issues affecting the full implementation of the GPA. It has also called on the international community to lift sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe.
Since the signing of the GPA on September 15, 2008, Zanu-PF has argued that the MDC should call for the lifting of the economic embargo, imposed ostensibly on Mugabe and his inner circle, but which have hurt the ordinary man and woman in the street.
While some members of Tsvangirai's party have admitted that sanctions exist, the majority of voices in the camp deny this state of affairs, preferring to call them restrictive measures against a few.
And when they do admit that the sanctions are there, they put the ball squarely in Zanu-PF's court, arguing that the party should do enough to convince the West that the sanctions should be lifted.
The MDC this week said it was not involved in crafting any foreign policy for any country and had nothing to do with the measures imposed on "selected Zanu PF officials" by the European Union. Secretary for international affairs Eliphas Mukonoweshuro said the fundamental issue was whether any moves were made in implementing the outstanding issues in the GPA.
"Most of the issues that led to the imposition of the restrictive measures still remain unresolved," Mukonoweshuro was quoted on the party's website.
"The issues of violence, human rights abuses and violent farm disruptions are still taking place. These are outstanding issues that need to be eradicated," he said.
He added that the inclusive government had set-up a committee composed of both Zanu-PF and MDC members, chaired by Zanu PF's politburo member and Foreign Affairs minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, to help the country in re-engaging with the international community.
However, the committee had not been meeting regularly. "Perhaps the chairperson of this committee should ensure that it meets frequently. What Zanu PF should be asking is why this committee is not meeting as expected," he said.
While the MDC says that Zanu-PF should be responsible for the lifting of the sanctions, British foreign secretary David Miliband last week revealed that his country would only lift sanctions against Zimbabwe on advice from Tsvangirai's MDC party.
"We have to calibrate our response to the progress on the ground, and, above all, to be guided by what the MDC says to us about the conditions under which it is working and leading the country," Miliband told the House of Commons on Jan. 19.
Although Tsvangirai's party has said it has no capacity to have sanctions against Zimbabwe lifted, Miliband's statement showed that the MDC had an important role to play in the sanctions game.
British Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mark Canning this week buttressed the British position on sanctions, insisting that they were not hurting ordinary Zimbabweans as they were only targeted at specific individuals.
"As the foreign secretary, David Miliband, made clear in Parliament on 19 January, the most important factor influencing the United Kingdom's views on lifting EU restrictive measures will be evidence of actual change and reform on the ground in Zimbabwe, " Canning said.
"These are not MDC measures. These are not Zanu-PF measures. They are the EU's, and we will make our own judgements as to when they should be reinforced or eased. But the key to having restrictive measures eased, or lifted, is for those in Zimbabwe who are currently resisting progress to implement the commitments to reform they agreed to in the GPA."
Canning said the current EU measures imposed restrictions on 203 key Zanu-PF figures allegedly involved in violence and human rights abuses, 40 companies associated with these individuals and their sources of finance.
"They do not affect the development of legitimate trade or business. They do not have any adverse effect on humanitarian assistance. Indeed, levels of British aid -- 100 million U.S. dollars this year -- to Zimbabwe and ordinary Zimbabweans have never been higher," he said.
In signing the GPA, Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara agreed that sanctions had contributed to the deterioration of the living standards of many Zimbabweans.
