United States Supports Zimbabwean Political Agreement

16 September 2008

State Department says deal speaks to political evolution in the country

By Stephen Kaufman
Staff Writer

Washington — The Bush administration has not yet reviewed the 50- to 60-page political deal signed September 11 between Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, but a State Department spokesman expressed general support for the agreement and urged that it be “faithfully implemented.”

Under the agreement, mediated by South African President Thabo Mbeki, Mugabe reportedly will relinquish some of the powers he has held since becoming president in 1980 to Tsvangirai, who heads the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which won a parliamentary majority in the country’s March 29 election. Tsvangirai will be the new prime minister.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said September 16 that the MDC has said it supports the agreement and is comfortable with it.  “Therefore we are supportive of it,” he said.

“We would expect that it be implemented, that not only the letter of it but the spirit of it be implemented, and that that end result reflects the will of the Zimbabwean people, as it was expressed during their recent election,” McCormack said.

The spokesman said U.S. officials are still in the process of getting a copy of the agreement and plan to review it.

“This is a reflection of Zimbabwean politics and an attempt to move those politics forward,” he said, adding that it “speaks to some political evolution in Zimbabwe that we have gotten to this point.”

McCormack credited the international community for staying focused on the country through the political crisis, which was marked by government-backed violence and intimidation against the opposition and those suspected of supporting it. (See “U.S. Sanctions Tightened Against Zimbabwe Regime.”)

But he said it is also “heartening” that Zimbabwean politics appear to have reached a point where the two sides have made a power-sharing deal and agreed to implement it.

“We'll see how this plays out, but certainly it is a good moment for Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC, that they have gotten to the point where they can negotiate this kind of agreement,” he said.

On September 15, Jendayi Frazer, U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs, said the Bush administration wants to see "real change" in Zimbabwe. According to the Washington Post, Frazer said, "We will have to reserve our final judgment until we are able to study the agreement and learn more about the new government," but she added that the United States is “hopeful, and we certainly look forward to working with Morgan Tsvangirai as the new prime minister to try to see recovery for the economy."