Tsvangirai to appeal to African leaders following MDC boycott

Oct 19, 2009, 12:00 GMT

Harare - Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai will take his worsening standoff with President Robert Mugabe to regional leaders this week, as Mugabe's party vows to plough ahead with government business despite a Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) boycott.

Tsvangirai's spokesman James Maridadi said that the MDC leader would be departing Zimbabwe on Monday for meetings with the leaders of Mozambique, Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola and South Africa.

South Africa has significant influence in Zimbabwe, while DR Congo holds the rotating chair of the 15-nation Southern African Development Community, the political bloc that brokered Zimbabwe's landmark Global Political Agreement and Mozambique chairs the SADC panel on politics, defence and security.

On Friday Tsvangirai announced that the MDC would 'disengage' from Mugabe's 'dishonest and unreliable' ZANU-PF party - its coalition partner - until crippling disagreements between the parties were resolved.

The two parties formed a power-sharing government in February in an attempt to kickstart Zimbabwe's economic recovery but progress has been slow as Zanu-PF refuses to share key positions of power and MDC members continue to be harassed and arbitrarily arrested.

Charles Mubita, manager of media affairs at the SADC secretariat, told the German Press Agency dpa that SADC 'remains seized with the political situation in Zimbabwe.'

'An envoy of SADC will, if all goes well, be visiting Zimbabwe tomorrow (Tuesday) to engage the various stakeholders and get first-hand information on the ground,' Mubita said.

At the same time Tsvangirai will be meeting with Mozambique's President Armando Guebuza in Maputo Tuesday, Maridadi said. His meeting with South African President Jacob Zuma had yet to be confirmed.

The European Union in a statement urged the AU and SADC particularly to 'do all that they can to assist the different parties to the GPA (Global Political Agreement) to resolve their differences for the benefit of the Zimbabwean people.'

The EU again promised to review its targeted sanctions against Mugabe and other Zanu-PF top brass if there was 'progress 'on the ground'' in resolving the issues preventing the full implementation of the GPA.

Tsvangirai made clear Friday that the MDC was not pulling out of the unity government per se but said MDC ministers would be boycotting meetings of cabinet and the council of ministers until the 'full resolution of all outstanding issues and the substantial implementation of the Global Political Agreement.'

The trigger for the boycott was the state's rearrest last week of MDC deputy agriculture minister-designate Roy Bennett pending his trial on charges of plotting to overthrow Mugabe in an discredited plot. Tsvangirai accused the state of 'persecuting' Bennett, who was later re-released on bail.

Mugabe, meanwhile, has reacted to the MDC boycott with defiance. His spokesman George Charamba told state media Sunday cabinet would meet as usual on Tuesday, with or without the MDC.