Zimbabwe: Mugabe, Tsvangirai And Mutambara Sign Deal

allAfrica.com: Zimbabwe: Mugabe, Tsvangirai And Mutambara Sign Deal

The leaders of ZANU PF and the two MDC formations came face to face
for a signing of an "historic" Memorandum of Understanding.

The agreement is supposed to pave the way for substantive negotiations
to end the political and economic crisis. This was the first time that
arch-rivals Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai had met since the
formation of the MDC more than 8 years ago.

While the event has been described as "momentous" and "historic" by
some media, Zimbabwean observers are more cautious. And if there was
any hope that this was going to be the beginning of a more open
process, that hope was quickly dashed. The 'breakthrough' engineered
by SADC and South African President Thabo Mbeki, to bring the main
political parties to the negotiating table, started with some
journalists and western diplomats being denied access.

Harare based Associated Press correspondent Angus Shaw was one of
those journalists barred from covering the event. He said the security
was very tight and there were riot police and armed soldiers, with
sniffer dogs. Shaw said only selected and invited people were allowed
into the signing. He said: "Western diplomats who were there were
turned away, and those of us from the foreign press, without what the
government considers adequate accreditation, were asked to leave the
place immediately."

"Southern African diplomats were obviously there. There weren't many
other African diplomats. Of course the Norwegians, the British and so
on were all shooed away from the hotel," Shaw added.

The foreign correspondent said what was supposed to be the signing of
a major event was really very tense and very unpleasant. The signing
took place at the Rainbow Hotel and Towers - formerly known as the
Sheraton.

Another journalist who spoke, on condition of anonymity, said: "If
this is the beginning of a real democracy for Zimbabwe and a new
dispensation then we are in real trouble when only a select few from
the media are allowed to cover such national events."

The event was broadcast live by the state broadcaster ZBC and by Al
Jazeera - the only foreign news network allowed to broadcast from
Zimbabwe.

It's reported the political parties, under the guidance of President
Thabo Mbeki, will embark on a two week process, to negotiate the way
forward. It's not known exactly how long the whole negotiating process
will take.

Analysts are concerned that once again Mugabe is showing himself to be
a clever manipulator, trying to buy himself more time.

Shaw said the MOU document doesn't contain the conditions which are
going to be the main sticking points, such as Mugabe's demand that he
be recognised as President. Shaw said: "It is a very, very bland four
page document."

It's reported all sides will be able to judge the sincerity of the
other during the two week talks, which will begin later this week in
Pretoria. The talks will be supervised by South Africa, together with
the United Nations and African Union diplomats on the sidelines.

At the signing in ceremony Tsvangirai appealed for tolerance and an
end to hate speech and violence, saying there is no-one with a
monopoly on patriotism. Mugabe showered praises on Thabo Mbeki for his
mediation efforts and warned that this will be a Zimbabwean effort,
with no western help. Giving a clear look inside Mugabe's mind as to
how he is looking at the talks - he emphasized repeatedly on the need
to "cut off whatever were influences from Britain and America."