EU visit widens Zimbabwe split

This week a delegation from the EU visted Zimbabwe to adress the issue of Zimbabwe's failing coalition government. The EU delegation didn't seem to help the situation, but appears to only have made it worse. Instead of pointing out what can be done to solve the problem, the EU delegation just pointed out that there were many problems. This has only worsened the coalition government because both President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Moran Tsvangirai only blame each other as the cause of the problems. This leaves only a couple of possibliteies that could play out in Zimbabwe. The first is that Mr. Tsvangirai and his MDC party will pull out of the government. This is unlikly because it will destory all the work that has been done just to get there and second the MDC will lose international standing because it is no longer a ruling part in Zimbabwe. The second is that that poor, rural blacks will start to get frustrated at the MDc because they have not made enough progress with the governement. This is important because this is the power base of the MDC, so any drop in support could hurt the MDC in future elections. The only real hope to solve this problem is a two fold solution. First, key personnel that are associted with corruption and ineptitude need to be removed from their jobs by Mugabe. This will show the world that the coalition government is really trying to clean up the mess of a government that Zimbabwe has. This will lead to the second part of the solution, which is that the sanctions placed on Zimbabwe will be lifted. This will have two benefits that will help the coaliton government. First, it will allow the government to get the $10 billion it needs to improve infrasture. Second, which will lead to Zimbabwe's economy growing and hopefully recovering from the massive inflation that it suffered from last year and still has problems with still today. Even though the EU visit did little to help the coalition government, the government of Zimbabwe still has a chance to make the changes nessecary that will help improve the country.

By: William Miller
Source: Christian Science Monitor