Mugabe Said to Be Negotiating Possible Exit
Mugabe Said to Be Negotiating Possible Exit
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
HARARE, Zimbabwe — Advisers to President Robert G. Mugabe of Zimbabwe
are in talks with the opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, amid signs
that Mr. Mugabe may be preparing to resign, a Western diplomatic source
and a prominent Zimbabwe political analyst said Tuesday. The
negotiations about a possible transfer of power away from Mr. Mugabe
come after he apparently concluded that a runoff election would be
demeaning, a diplomat said.
A resignation by Mr. Mugabe, one of Africa’s longest serving leaders,
would be a stunning turnabout in a country where Mr. Mugabe has been
accused of consistently manipulating election results to maintain his
lock on power.
There is no guarantee the negotiations will succeed and the situation
could still unravel. But a Western diplomat and a political analyst said
the opposition was negotiating with Zimbabwe’s military, central
intelligence organization and the country’s prisons chief.
“The chiefs of staff are talking to Morgan and are trying to put into
place transitional structures,” said John Makumbe, a political analyst
and insider in local politics who has spoken in the past in favor of the
opposition.
A spokesman for Mr. Tsvangirai, George Sibotshiwe, said: “I don’t know
anything about such meetings.”
Mr. Tsvangirai scheduled a news conference for 5 p.m. local time (10
a.m. Eastern time).
The diplomats said the joint chiefs had urged the negotiations after
becoming convinced that there was no palatable alternative to a transfer
of power and that a run-off following Saturday’s presidential election
would lead to defeat for Mr. Mugabe. One Western diplomat said the heads
of the armed forces advised Mr. Mugabe on Monday to engineer a second
round run-off in the presidential race but Mr. Mugabe responded that a
run-off would be a humiliation to him.
More than three days after the vote, the government had still not
released any results of the presidential balloting. Under Zimbabwe’s
election rules, a runoff would be required if no candidate got more than
50 percent. However, Reuters quoted unidentified sources in Mugabe’s
party as saying it had projected Mr. Tsvangirai got 48 percent of the
vote, versus 43 percent for Mr. Mugabe.
The nation has lingered in political limbo since Saturday, because of
the election commission’s silence on the results of the presidential
race, raising concerns that Mr. Mugabe was intent on rigging the outcome.
But with the talks now underway, the political ground seemed to be
shifting rapidly, away from Mr. Mugabe.
Mr. Mugabe, 84, has led Zimbabwe since 1980. Crafty and ruthless, he is
not a man likely to easily give up his hold on power, analysts,
diplomats and Zimbabweans have long contended.
That has left this nation, and a good bit of the world, wondering how he
will survive what seems a repudiation by his countrymen, most of whom
have become unemployed under his rule. The nation now suffers from an
inflation rate of 100,000 percent.
Mr. Tsvangirai’s party, the Movement for Democratic Change, had already
used the few parliamentary results posted so far to declare victory.
Tendai Biti, the party’s secretary general, said Monday that unofficial
tallies of more than half the votes showed Mr. Tsvangirai with 60
percent and Mr. Mugabe with 30 percent.
“We are at the moment of liberation from a dictator,” Mr. Biti said.
However, the government had warned the opposition about declaring
victory prematurely.
Graham Bowley contributed reporting from New York.