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Zimbabwe Organizations Oppose Convening of Parliament By Peter Clottey Washington, D.C. 21 August 2008 Clottey Interview With ICG'S Sydney Masamvu - Download (MP3) Clottey Interview With ICG'S Sydney Masamvu - Listen (MP3) Civil and non-governmental organizations in Zimbabwe are expressing their strong opposition to moves by President Robert Mugabe to open parliament officially next week. The organizations say the move would seriously jeopardize the recently signed memorandum of understanding between the ruling ZANU-PF party and main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The MDC reportedly said that convening Zimbabwe's parliament would break a framework agreement governing power-sharing talks to try to end Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis. But President Mugabe's government rejected the accusation, saying the plan to convene parliament will continue as planned. Sydney Masamvu is a Zimbabwean with the International Crisis Group. From the capital, Harare, he tells reporter Peter Clottey that the move is against the spirit of the recently signed memorandum of understanding. "I think given the spirit of the MOU (memorandum of understanding), which up front stated that within the spirit of the agreement, no party was going to convene parliament or formulate a cabinet before an agreement is signed. Moving to swear in parliament is in part a breach of the memorandum of understanding. However, we need to make a qualification there that the contestation in the talks right now is not about the swearing in of parliament is in dispute, but I think the most critical point, which ZANU-PF and President Robert Mugabe moves beyond that, he would be crossing the rules is assembling the cabinet," Masamvu noted. He said it would be an affront to the ongoing peace negotiations aimed at resolving Zimbabwe's problems if President Mugabe goes ahead to name a ZANU-PF led cabinet. "Assembling cabinet will actually be vesting authority in in

Ads by Google 10 Rules of Flat Stomach: Cut down 9 lbs of stomach fat every 11 Days by Obeying these 10 Rules. FatLoss4Idiots.comAir Zimbabwe Save with cheap flights on Air zimbabwe www.flightcentre.com.au For a country with such great and mounting problems as Zimbabwe, a general election should be an occasion for great excitement. This should be particularly so when the main opposing parties offer such starkly differently views of looking at the origins of the problems, and the solutions, as do ZANU-PF and the MDC. Yet there seems very little of that sense of excitement about the March general election. There seems less of a general sense of optimism than in recent votes that this election could be a turning point in the country's continuing plunge in every arena. The blasé attitude seems independent of whether one is supportive of the ruling ZANU-PF or either faction of the MDC. If it is going to be an election that represents a watershed in Zimbabwe's declining fortunes, I know few people on either side of the political divide who seem to think that this one is it. A win for President Mugabe and ZANU-PF represents "business as usual," which more of the hardships and decline of the past several years. Just weeks before the election, neither Mugabe as a presidential candidate nor his party even bother to pretend that there is a credible plan in place to reverse the mess the country is in. The MDC factions seem at their most indecisive and weakest. Within and between them, ego-politics seems to win over strategy against their common foe, the ruling party. The statements and actions of some of the leading lights of both factions make one wonder whether in power they would really represent a type of politics essentially different from that of ZANU-PF, or whether they would just be a new group of people doing the same things as before. They send out confusing signals about whether or not they will participate in the election.

The poverty section of the Global Issues web site looks into causes of poverty around the world. Why are poor nations poor? What are the roles of the IMF and World Bank with their Structural Adjustment policies? What are the effects of debt. The roles of major players such as the United Nations, United States, Britain are also introduced. Tied in with other global issues which are inter-related with the issue of poverty, it affects all of us. Many links to other articles, research, essays and organizations are provided to look into such questions and issues." /><!--[if lt IE 7]><link href="/css/6/ie.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /><![endif]--><!--[if lt IE 8]><link href="/css/1/ie7.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /><![endif]--><link hre

This part of the globalissues.org web site looks into the issue of racism. In some places around the world, racial hatred is increasing. Many modern conflicts also have some roots in ethnicity." /><!--[if lt IE 7]><link href="/css/6/ie.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /><![endif]--><!--[if lt IE 8]><link href="/css/1/ie7.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /><![endif]-->Section: RacismAccessibility StatementSkip straight to main contentEmail Page to a FriendPrinter-Friendly Version/pr

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