BBC Coverage of Response in Harare to MOU between ZANU-PF and MDC

Brian Hungwe, writing for the BBC Africa, presents views on the street as news of yesterday's Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Mugabe, Tsvangirai, and Mutambara.

Here is Hungwe's description of the signing ceremony:

"There was a handshake and a smile, but no embrace. It appears the rivals did not want to physically commit themselves that far.

The body language failed to provide a clue as to whether the ice had really been broken in the hotel where they held a brief meeting.

Mr Mutambara seemed at ease, Mr Tsvangirai disinterested, and Mr Mugabe was, as usual, self-confident.

The handshake was a temporary triumph for South African President Thabo Mbeki and his much-criticised "quiet diplomacy" policy on Zimbabwe.

At last, the rivals had come face to face.

They signed a commitment to "end polarisation, divisions, conflict and intolerance that have characterised our country's politics."

The talks are due to be completed in two weeks."

Hungwe described the difference responses of people in Harare:

"In the townships, there is some confusion.

"We wait and see, it's difficult to trust Mr Mugabe," says Caleb, 34, from Chitungwiza, a dormitory town just south of Harare.

But Mudiwa, of Highfields said: "We trust all our leaders, we hope whatever they will debate, is good for us all."

"This is not the time to outdo one another, but to think about the suffering of the ordinary people."

Around the streets of Harare, the news came as a shock to many.

It drew laughter from those who thought it was a hoax, but excitement from others.

A security officer at a local hotel said people were looking forward to making sure "people are having enough food and they are having enough medication from the hospitals".

Taxi driver Johannes Phiri said: "I am quite happy, what's has been happening was very bad."

"With the agreement, everything will be all right so that we can survive and lead our normal lives again.""

Perhaps the most telling response was from a rural Zimbabwean who lost three brothers in the political violence during the campaigning for the last election:

"Leslie Madamombe of Mashonaland Central province lost three brothers a week before the country's 27 June presidential run-off.

One was shot point-blank and the others forced to drink a lethal Chinese paraquat herbicide by militias from the ruling Zanu-PF party.

"[The agreement] should have happened long back," he says. "Nothing will ever bring my three dead brothers back."

Leslie's mother and elder brother Hilton still fear for their lives, guarded by armed police at a Harare hospital.

"I'm bitter, but I however look forward with hope," he says."

African response to Zimbabwe's sham elections and political violence shows new spirit of criticism

MICHELLE FAUL of the Associated Press wrote a week ago about the divided response from African politicians this time around following the sham June 27th run-off election.

"A younger generation of African leaders appears willing to break from the clubbiness that has characterized the governing elites on this continent where authoritarian rule has long been the norm.

Among the most outspoken has been Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the Liberian president who is the continent's only female leader.

On a visit to South Africa this week, she was the first African leader to support proposed U.N. sanctions against Zimbabwe's leaders, saying they send a "strong message" that the world will not tolerate violence to retain power.

"It's important, because it's the first time that we are seeing on the African continent that leadership has transitioned from the old perceptions," said Chris Maroleng, a South African political analyst.

"We're seeing more leaders beginning to embrace their own democratic notion," he added."

In addition to the above mentioned criticisms from Liberia, Faul lists the other outspoken leaders who have chosen to speak out against the abuses of power by ZANU-PF:

"

They include Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, a lawyer who is his country's third leader since independence in 1964; former army commander Seretse Ian Khama of Botswana, Africa's most enduring democracy; and Nigeria's Umar Yar'Adua, only the third civilian leader since 1966, though he still is fighting a court battle over his fraud-riddled election.

Mugabe's June 27 runoff "was neither free nor fair and therefore the legitimacy of his presidency is in question. He cannot wish that away," Kenya's Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula told The Associated Press."

Mugabe's strongest support have come from his allies in the Congo Wars, Kabila's DRC, Angola, and Namibia.

Faul explains how the lack of criticism from the African Union after the election showed the weakness of the AU to live up to its declared principles state at its 2002 reconstitution, replacing the discredited Organization of African Union:

"The African leaders also retained South African President Thabo Mbeki as mediator for Zimbabwe, ignoring the Zimbabwe opposition's rejection of him and widespread condemnation that his 8-year-long "softly, softly" approach to Mugabe has hastened Zimbabwe's collapse.

Liberia's Sirleaf said the African Union could only maintain its credibility if it pronounced the June 27 runoff unacceptable.

The prevailing African silence over Mugabe marks a landmark failure for the union, set up in 2002 to replace the discredited Organization of African Unity, which had become little more than a dictators' club. The new union was to be the flagship for an African renaissance based on democracy and Africans solving African problems.

At its inaugural summit in 2002, leaders committed themselves to holding fair elections at regular intervals, to allow opposition parties to campaign freely and to set up independent electoral commissions to monitor polls.

Mugabe failed on every point.

While the old organization pledged noninterference in member states, the new union includes a Peace and Security Council, structured on the U.N. Security Council, that has the right to intervene when human rights are grossly violated or crimes against humanity perpetrated.

The only African intervention has been to send troops to back Comoros government soldiers in ousting a coup leader from the remote Indian Ocean island of Anjouan in March — an easy target."

This week, AU Commission Chairman Jean Ping arrived in South Africa to help guarantee negotiations would start, and it appears today, according to the Associated Press, that an agreement has been reached for talks to begin.

AU Commission Chairman Ping to arrive in South Africa to Discuss Zimbabwe Negotiations

The Voice of America's Blessing Zulu and Jonga Kandemiiri report on the on-going "talks about talks" between Mugabe's ZANU-PF and Tsvangarai's MDC. Indications are that the African Union's Commission Chairman Jean Ping's meeting this Friday with South African President Thabo Mbeki will be a test of how serious the AU mandate for Mbeki to proceed more quickly this time.

Apparently 8 years of inaction has now been noticed, and South Africa's defense of Mugabe over the last two weeks at the G8 Summit, the African Union Summit, and at the UN Security Council--none of which resulted in tough sanctions--has allowed Mbeki to come out the sole negotiator. The MDC has reportedly demanded an end to the political violence and the release of political prisoners--MDC supporters arrested during the run-off election campaign--as part of their conditions for talks. Perhaps the most important demand is the MDC's request that the AU add another mediator in addition to Mbeki, as the MDC's mistrust of Mbeki has been clearly stated.

The VOA report indicates that the ZANU-PF government has been releasing some MDC supporters from jails, but there still remain many held behind bars on trumped up charges, including elected MDC members of parliament. The article reports:

"Political analyst Farai Maguwu told reporter Jonga Kandemiiri of VOA's
Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that by releasing MDC activists, the government has
responded to pressure from the international community and regional leaders to
show good faith in the talks."

"But MDC officials point out that parliamentarian-elect Pearson
Mbalekwa of Zvishavane-Ngezi constituency in Midlands province, and 15 other MDC
activists, are still held in Hwange prison. A former ZANU-PF parliamentarian and
Central Intelligence Organization operative, Mbalekwa broke with the government
in 2005 over the forced eviction and demolition campaign that it named Operation
Murambatsvina, Shona for "Drive Out the Trash." Sources said Mbalekwa spent 16
days without bathing before being transferred to the Hwange prison."

AU makes some criticism of Mugabe, but stops short of serious critique

Cris Chinaka, writing for Reuters, gives a good summary of what the African Union did and didn't achieve in terms of recognizing Mugabe's "sham" election as president of Zimbabwe.

The strongest criticism came from Botswana's Vice-President Mompati Merafhe, who issued a statement requesting that Mugabe be excluded from AU and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) meetings:

"'In our considered view ... the representatives of the current government
in Zimbabwe should be excluded from attending SADC (Southern African Development
Community) and African Union meetings,' Botswana Vice-President Mompati Merafhe
said, according to a text of his remarks."

However, as Chinaka reports, Egypt and South Africa do not agree:

"South Africa, the designated mediator in Zimbabwe, has resisted open
condemnation. The AU summit, in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, called
for SADC mediation, led by South African President Thabo Mbeki, to continue.
"