Zimbabwe's power-sharing deal

Can Mugabe and Tsvangirai work together?

Zimbabwe’s rival political leaders signed an “historic power-sharing agreement” on Monday, said Sarah Childress in The Wall Street Journal. For the first time in 28 years, Zimbabwe’s president, Robert Mugabe, will cede some of his power as opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai rules alongside him as prime minister.

This deal marks a “victory for African diplomacy,” said Kenya’s The East African in an editorial. Settling the dispute between Mugabe and opposition leaders Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara offers the country a chance to recover from “years of turbulence and economic stagnation,” which has pushed inflation as high as 11.5 million percent.

Don’t get your hopes up, said Gwynne Dyer in the Hamilton, Ontario, Spectator. Mugabe will still control the cabinet, while Tsvangirai will head a new Council of State that will “supervise” the cabinet. “Nobody knows what that means, but it is obviously an unworkable arrangement.”