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Zimbabwe's Mugabe "Overstepped" in Claiming Key Ministries

By Stephen Kaufman

The United States urges the implementation of the original power-sharing agreement brokered between Zimbabwe's political opposition and the government of President Robert Mugabe, and says Mugabe's claims on the country's key ministries run counter to that deal.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said October 14 that there is now "a real bump in the road in terms of the implementation" of the September 15 agreement between Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Under the deal, mediated by former South African President Thabo Mbeki, the opposition would control 16 Cabinet seats and Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party would have 15.

Mugabe's government published a list October 11 showing how it intends to divide the ministries. It awarded itself key portfolios such as defense, home and foreign affairs, justice, mining and land, and assigned the opposition relatively minor ministries such as constitutional affairs and water management. Tsvangirai has threatened to break off talks on forming a coalition government.

McCormack said Mugabe "apparently overstepped the bounds" of the September 15 deal "in claiming several ministries that were not part of the power-sharing agreement."

He said trust in Zimbabwe's long-term ruler has "always been the open question" when it came to the power-sharing deal. After it was announced, "we welcomed the agreement but we also held out final judgment until it was actually implemented." (See "United States Supports Zimbabwean Political Agreement ( http://www.america.gov/st/democracy-english/2008/September/20080916162951esnamfuak0.2933771.html ).")

"The devil is in the details of the implementation," McCormack said, and the United States will wait to see how the current impasse is resolved.

"Of course, any implementation solution has to be one that is acceptable to the MDC and Mr. Tsvangirai," he said.

According to the World Food Programme, more than 5 million people - nearly half of Zimbabwe's population - are facing starvation while talks to form the government continue.

In an October 9 worldwide appeal for assistance, the U.N. agency said $140 million was needed to provide enough rations for its food stocks, which are set to run out in January 2009.

Millions of Zimbabweans have already run out of food or are surviving on one meal a day, the agency said.

The United States continues to be the largest donor to the World Food Programme and has also been a leading provider of humanitarian assistance to Zimbabwe. Between 2002 and 2007, the United States gave about $400 million in humanitarian assistance, most of which was food aid.

Source: U.S. Department of State