African leaders warn of Zimbabwe Collapse

This news updete by www.thearynews.com









JOHANNESBURG: South African President Kgalema Motlanthe warned Monday that Zimbabwe's political deadlock could bring the troubled nation to collapse as he announced new talks to save a stalled unity accord. Motlanthe said Zimbabwe's political rivals would meet Tuesday in South Africa in the latest bid to rescue the power-sharing deal that was signed two months ago but never put into effect. "Unless the root cause of the political absence of a legitimate government is solved, the situation will get worse and will implode or collapse altogether," Motlanthe said. South Africa's ruling party leader Jacob Zuma warned that the two sides needed to urgently reach an agreement to tackle a cholera outbreak that has killed nearly 300 people, including four who had come here to seek treatment. "Let us find a way to implement the agreement for the sake of Zimbabweans. We cannot stay with the agreement without implementing it. It is now an urgent matter, because people are dying," he said. Zuma said he would also dispatch a delegation from his African National Congress (ANC) to press both President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) into a deal. "We are not dealing with a theoretical situation. We are dealing with a situation that is affecting the lives of people," he said. Motlanthe and Zuma spoke after meeting with former UN secretary general Kofi Annan and former US president Jimmy Carter, who were denied visas for a humanitarian mission they had planned for last weekend.


News Via