New Zimbabwe government promised by this weekend
- added September 30, 2008
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Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe said Monday that a new unity government will be formed by the end of the week, denying a deadlock in talks with the opposition over key ministries.
"We will be setting up government by the end of the week," Mugabe said on his return from the United Nations general assembly meeting in New York.
"We never said there was a deadlock."
Since agreeing to a landmark power-sharing deal with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on September 15, the two sides have been locked in negotiations over how to divide control of powerful ministries, including defence, home affairs, finance and information.
Mugabe said he had tasked his negotiators before leaving for New York on September 19 with finding a way to divide the posts.
"We discussed the ministries the day before I left. There were four left which we referred to our negotiators to discuss," he said.
Tsvangirai on Saturday warned that Zimbabwe urgently needed to form a new government to ensure food supplies and prevent starvation in a country where many struggle to survive under the weight of hyperinflation last reported at 11.2 million percent -- the highest in the world.
"We need to respond to this crisis with utmost urgency," Tsvangirai said.
The power-sharing deal was heralded as a historic framework to ease Zimbabwe's political deadlock and economic melt-down.
The agreement allows Mugabe to remain as head of state after nearly three decades in power while Tsvangirai is to take up a new post of prime minister.
The 84-year-old president, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain, warned against outside interference in his country's affairs and again called on London and Washington to lift sanctions.
"We should never tolerate interference in the domestic affairs of our country," he said. "Any country which does that declares itself an enemy of Zimbabwe."
Pointing to divisions in his ruling ZANU-PF, Mugabe said power-sharing talks followed the loss of March elections to Tsvangirai.
"We had to have these talks because when we went to vote in March, some of you remained in bed instead of going out to vote. Some of you voted wrongly," he said. "We were not united."
A unity government could not be refused "when you have lost," Mugabe said, telling his supporters "we must play it safe."
The United States and the European Union have slapped targeted sanctions, including travel and financial restrictions on Zimbabwe's leadership, arguing that Mugabe has crushed human rights and ruined his country's once prosperous economy.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband on Saturday said the world stood ready to assist in Zimbabwe's reconstruction if a new government reflecting the will of its people is formed.
"The parlous state of the Zimbabwean economy is not the result of the international community. It is the result of mismanagement by the Mugabe regime," Miliband told reporters in New York.
"We will be setting up government by the end of the week," Mugabe said on his return from the United Nations general assembly meeting in New York.
"We never said there was a deadlock."
Since agreeing to a landmark power-sharing deal with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on September 15, the two sides have been locked in negotiations over how to divide control of powerful ministries, including defence, home affairs, finance and information.
Mugabe said he had tasked his negotiators before leaving for New York on September 19 with finding a way to divide the posts.
"We discussed the ministries the day before I left. There were four left which we referred to our negotiators to discuss," he said.
Tsvangirai on Saturday warned that Zimbabwe urgently needed to form a new government to ensure food supplies and prevent starvation in a country where many struggle to survive under the weight of hyperinflation last reported at 11.2 million percent -- the highest in the world.
"We need to respond to this crisis with utmost urgency," Tsvangirai said.
The power-sharing deal was heralded as a historic framework to ease Zimbabwe's political deadlock and economic melt-down.
The agreement allows Mugabe to remain as head of state after nearly three decades in power while Tsvangirai is to take up a new post of prime minister.
The 84-year-old president, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain, warned against outside interference in his country's affairs and again called on London and Washington to lift sanctions.
"We should never tolerate interference in the domestic affairs of our country," he said. "Any country which does that declares itself an enemy of Zimbabwe."
Pointing to divisions in his ruling ZANU-PF, Mugabe said power-sharing talks followed the loss of March elections to Tsvangirai.
"We had to have these talks because when we went to vote in March, some of you remained in bed instead of going out to vote. Some of you voted wrongly," he said. "We were not united."
A unity government could not be refused "when you have lost," Mugabe said, telling his supporters "we must play it safe."
The United States and the European Union have slapped targeted sanctions, including travel and financial restrictions on Zimbabwe's leadership, arguing that Mugabe has crushed human rights and ruined his country's once prosperous economy.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband on Saturday said the world stood ready to assist in Zimbabwe's reconstruction if a new government reflecting the will of its people is formed.
"The parlous state of the Zimbabwean economy is not the result of the international community. It is the result of mismanagement by the Mugabe regime," Miliband told reporters in New York.
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