The United States is warning Zimbabwe's President RobertMugabe and his ruling ZANU-PF party not to renege on the power sharingagreement with the two factions of the opposition Movement for DemocraticChange (MDC). Washington reportedly says it has in place a new batch oftargeted sanctions ready to be imposed if President Mugabe and his supportersfail to abide by the recently signed power sharing agreement with theopposition. This follows reported impasse between the ruling party and theopposition over cabinet posts after both sides signed a power sharing agreementlast week to form a unity government aimed at resolving the country's economiccrisis.
GeorgeMkwananzi is the deputy chairperson of the National Constitution Assembly. Hetells reporter Peter Clottey from South Africa's capital, Pretoria, that President Mugabe should not be allowed to toy with thepower-sharing agreement with the opposition.
"Ithink every level of pressure would be welcome if it is exerted on the Mugaberegime in order to quickly and immediately put to an end the suffering of thepeople of Zimbabwe. The Mugabe regime would need that kind of pressurization,and the US is not wrong in taking such a move as far as I'm concerned,"Mkwananzi noted.
Hesaid the US targeted sanctions would be a political tool for partisans of theruling ZANU-PF against the opposition MDC.
"Obviouslythey (ZANU-PF) would jump at that and use the threat as further evidence thatthe MDC is a puppet of the West and that they are pushing the cause of the Westand so on. All those accusations would be heaped upon the MDC, but what isimportant is that no matter what Mugabe says or what ZANU-PF says we know thatit's a move that is likely to benefit the people of Zimbabwe because at thisjuncture what we need to see is an acceleration of the processes and theconfusion of that government of national unity particularly the equitabledistribution of ministries that are of consequences," he said.
Mkwananzisaid some Zimbabweans are expressing concerns about the power-haring agreementafter the mediator and South African President Thabo Mbeki steps down this week.
"What has befallen ThaboMbeki as the mediator in the Zimbabwe crisis is likely to send some signalsthat would cause the people of Zimbabwe to panic. However, it always depends onthe party the ANC (ruling African National Convention) whether it would likeThabo Mbeki to continue playing his role and duty on the international scene.And it also depends on the SADC (Southern African Development Community) thepeople who have mandated him in the first place to do the mediation inZimbabwe. Otherwise, if they replace him we believe that they would replace himwith somebody who is also knowledgeable or sufficiently possesses enoughinformation about the goings on in Zimbabwe. And would not force the talks tostart afresh as it were," Mkwananzi pointed out.
USassistant secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer said Washingtonwas closely watching the impasse on cabinet posts since Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PFand the opposition Movement for Democratic Change led by Morgan Tsvangiraisigned a power-sharing deal last week.
Frazeradded that the State Department and other US government agencies were makingplans to step up assistance programs at the appropriate time and send in teamsof experts to help rebuild Zimbabwe's shattered economy.