This weekend's visit to Zimbabwe by European Union representatives, aimed at bolstering the country's fragile coalition government, may have actually driven the two rival parties farther apart.
Just hours after the EU delegation left – having echoed concerns that President Robert Mugabe had not done enough to share power with his rival, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai – a close Mugabe ally launched a verbal attack on the EU, saying they had taken Mr. Tsvangirai's line "hook, line, and sinker."
The EU visit followed another missed opportunity for Zimbabwe, when leaders of the Southern African Development Community last week refused to address the Zimbabwe issue, and instead echoed Mr. Mugabe's call for a lifting of sanctions against Zimbabwe.
Now both sides are miffed, and hard-liners in the two rival parties are reportedly calling for the whole coalition government agreement to be called off.
"There is definitely a hardening line in the MDC [Tsvangirai's party, the Movement for Democratic Change], although I think there is a split opinion on whether to pull out of the coalition, or to get extremely tough with Mugabe," says Raymond Louw, editor of the Southern Africa Report in Johannesburg. "I don't think there is an alternative now" to getting tough.
b>To read full Christain Science Monitor story — Go Here Now.
|
