Zimbabwe’s power-sharing deal is close to collapse after only 12 days because Robert Mugabe and his generals are determined to thwart it, Western diplomats said yesterday.

“We are looking at the possibility of this thing failing,” a senior diplomat told The Times as Mr Mugabe demanded an end to the “illegal and unilateral” sanctions at the UN General Assembly in New York last night. Another gave the deal a mere 25 per cent chance of survival, saying Mr Mugabe had entered it in bad faith and had duped the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

Both gave warning of catastrophe if the deal collapsed. One spoke of Zimbabwe’s “final implosion”, with “Ethiopian-style” mass starvation and another million desperate people flooding into neighbouring countries.

They said that Mr Mugabe believed he could flout the agreement with impunity because the world was distracted: the West was facing economic meltdown, Washington had a presidential election looming, Gordon Brown was fighting for survival and Thabo Mbeki, the former South African President who brokered the deal, had been ousted.

Nearly two weeks after the agreement was signed Mr Mugabe’s Zanu (PF) party and Mr Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) have failed even to agree a division of ministries, with Zanu (PF) demanding every key portfolio.

Mr Tsvangirai told Western officials in Harare that the MDC had ceded the Defence Ministry, which controls the Army, and the dreaded Central Intelligence Organisation to Mr Mugabe. Zanu (PF) is also demanding the Home Affairs Ministry, which would give Mr Mugabe control of the police, and the Finance Ministry, which would leave it in charge of the devastated Zimbabwean economy.

“Zanu wants everything,” said one of those present, adding that the officials had urged Mr Tsvangirai to show less trust and “more spine”.

Speaking at the UN Mr Mugabe said that he would respect the power-sharing deal. “My party Zanu (PF) will abide by the letter and spirit of the agreement to which we have appended our signature,” he said. He blamed sanctions for the “humanitarian emergency” that has caused “untold suffering to millions”, and defended the seizures of white-owned farms as land reform carried out in the interests of sustainable development.

Mr Mugabe and his party have shown contempt for the deal from the outset. In a televised speech the octogenarian President insisted that Zanu (PF) remained in the driving seat and “would not tolerate any nonsense from our new partners”.

In a pseudonymous newspaper column George Charamba, his spokesman, insisted that Mr Mugabe remained the head of state and government, said that Zanu (PF) had to learn to govern with “the enemy now within” and spoke of war if the MDC tried to reverse land seizures. The diplomats said Mr Mugabe was under pressure from his generals, who felt he had sold out. One added: “Mugabe was never going to give up power quietly.”

Zimbabwe’s neighbours in the Southern African Development Community have asked Mr Mbeki to continue monitoring the agreement. While some observers believe that his removal from the presidency robbed Mr Mugabe of his protector, the diplomats said that it had neutered the one man who could have forced Mr Mugabe to honour the deal.

Unless Mr Mugabe cedes real power the West will not give Zimbabwe the billions of dollars it needs to rebuild an economy crippled by inflation running at 40 million per cent, the flight of four million of its citizens, and a desperate food and fuel shortage.

Save the Children said that Zimbabwean children were eating rats and inedible roots riddled with toxic parasites to stave off hunger. A diplomat said that the Government needed 850,000 tonnes of grain to avert famine but had just 75,000 tonnes left.

In an interview with the Associated Press yesterday Mr Mugabe accused Britain and America of “waiting for a day when this evil man called Robert Mugabe is no longer in control”.

Had he thought of resigning?

“No — or of dying.”

The long negotiation

September 9 Thabo Mbeki mediates in new round of talks between MDC and Mugabe

September 11 Tsvangirai says that a power-sharing deal is reached

September 15 The power-sharing deal is signed officially

September 17 The Parliamentary Affairs Minister announces that constitutional changes are needed before deal can come into effect

September 18, 19 Zanu (PF) attempts to hold all key ministries

September 19 Joseph Msika, the Vice-President, left in charge when Mugabe attends UN meeting

September 20 The state-owned newspaper The Herald suggests that Mugabe still holds power

September 21 Mbeki resigns as President of South Africa

Source: Times archives

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