The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), led by Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has set a 15 January 2010 deadline to break the country’s power-sharing deadlock, failing which the dispute should be referred for regional arbitration, a spokesperson said on Monday.
The spokesperson said the MDC’s national council has resolved that the ongoing dialogue between the party, President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF and a breakaway MDC faction headed by Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara should be completed by “no later than 15 January 2010”.
“In the event of a deadlock after this date, the matter will be referred back to SADC (Southern African Development Community) for arbitration and adjudication,” the spokesperson said.
SADC mandated South African President Jacob Zuma in November to broker a deal among the three Zimbabwean political parties and save the coalition government.
Tsvangirai was due to communicate his party’s decision when Zimbabwe’s three main political leaders met Monday to assess progress in implementation of a power-sharing pact they signed last year.
The parties are feuding over the swearing in of Tsvangirai’s ally Roy Bennett as Zimbabwe’s deputy agriculture minister and Mugabe’s unilateral appointments of provincial governors, the Attorney General and central bank chief.
ZANU PF in turn accuses the MDC of reneging on a promise to call for the lifting of travel restrictions and an assets freeze imposed by the West on more than 200 officials with links to the veteran Zimbabwean leader.
Source African Press Agency
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