Statement on Zimbabwe  
       

Rt Hon Helen Clark, Labour Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs said today hopes would be high that the power sharing agreement announced in Zimbabwe would offer a fresh start for the traumatised nation.

The agreement, announced in Zimbabwe in recent hours would see Morgan Tsvangirai, Leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), sworn in as Prime Minister in eleven days time. Reports suggest that the MDC would take the finance portfolio; share the important Home Affairs portfolio which has responsibility for the police; and take a range of other portfolios.

Helen Clark said that the international community stood poised to offer major support to the rebuilding of Zimbabwe, should this be a serious power sharing agreement.

"The previous power sharing accord, signed in Zimbabwe last September, failed to take effect. For the sake of Zimbabweans, it has to be hoped that this one fares better.

"In recent weeks a cholera epidemic has spread in Zimbabwe, infecting more than 60,000 people and killing more than 3,000. This misery has been added to the HIV-AIDS epidemic, 94 per cent unemployment, and an inflation rate now estimated at a staggering 231 million per cent.

"Political violence causing death, disability, and terror has been perpetrated against Zanu-PF's opponents. The new agreement commits to free political activity without the fear of harassment and intimidation.

All eyes will be on Zimbabwe to see if this critical part of the new agreement is abided by. Without adherence to that, Zimbabwe cannot get the fresh start it so desperately needs.

" The leaders of Southern Africa have worked hard to get this second power sharing agreement in place, fully conscious of the tragedy which has unfolded in Zimbabwe. For the sake of Zimbabwe and the region, it has to be hoped that it works. A nation once in the vanguard of development on the continent has been reduced to unimaginable tragedy by its rulers.

"The new agreement implies reasonably rapid progress on the development of a new constitution which would be submitted to a referendum. The world will be watching to see that this process proceeds unhindered by those responsible for reducing Zimbabwe to its present desperate state", Helen Clark said.

ends

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