blunomore
Honorary Master
Harare - Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai used his first platform as head of government on Monday to call on Zimbabwe's rival political parties to work together to "unite" the country.
"I, the prime minister of Zimbabwe, call Zanu-PF and MDC to unite Zimbabwe. Divisions belong to the past," Tsvangirai said after signing a historic power-sharing deal with President Robert Mugabe.
As Tsvangirai got down to executive business, his first priority was a call for the economically-shattered southern African country's doors to be reopened to international aid.
"The international aid organisations came to help our country and found our doors locked," Tsvangirai said. "We need to unlock our doors to aid - we need medicine, food, and doctors back in our country.
"We need electricity, water, petrol for our vehicles, we need to access our cash from bank."
Over the past decade Zimbabwe's economy has collapsed with the world's highest inflation rate, chronic shortages of foreign currency and food, skyrocketing unemployment and widespread hunger.
A sovereign country
Mugabe, speaking moments after signing a historic power-sharing deal on Monday, again warned against foreign influence in his country.
"We must resist those who want to impose their own will on us," Mugabe said. "Zimbabwe is a sovereign country, only the people of Zimbabwe has the fundamental right to govern it. They alone will set up government, they alone will change it."
The 84-year-old president has in the past repeatedly labeled Tsvangirai a stooge of the West.
Earlier, the European Union said it was taking a wait-and-see attitude to Zimbabwe's new power-sharing deal, leaving its sanctions unchanged but ready to reconsider them next month, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said.
Mugabe, 84, kept a straight face as the pair shook hands after the ceremony attended by several southern African leaders, while Tsvangirai did so with a beaming smile.
The veteran president, a hero in the country's liberation war who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980, had pledged in the past that the opposition would never rule in his lifetime.
Precise details of how the accord was to work in practice were to be formally unveiled later on Monday.
http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/Zimbabwe/0,,2-11-1662_2393676,00.html
"I, the prime minister of Zimbabwe, call Zanu-PF and MDC to unite Zimbabwe. Divisions belong to the past," Tsvangirai said after signing a historic power-sharing deal with President Robert Mugabe.
As Tsvangirai got down to executive business, his first priority was a call for the economically-shattered southern African country's doors to be reopened to international aid.
"The international aid organisations came to help our country and found our doors locked," Tsvangirai said. "We need to unlock our doors to aid - we need medicine, food, and doctors back in our country.
"We need electricity, water, petrol for our vehicles, we need to access our cash from bank."
Over the past decade Zimbabwe's economy has collapsed with the world's highest inflation rate, chronic shortages of foreign currency and food, skyrocketing unemployment and widespread hunger.
A sovereign country
Mugabe, speaking moments after signing a historic power-sharing deal on Monday, again warned against foreign influence in his country.
"We must resist those who want to impose their own will on us," Mugabe said. "Zimbabwe is a sovereign country, only the people of Zimbabwe has the fundamental right to govern it. They alone will set up government, they alone will change it."
The 84-year-old president has in the past repeatedly labeled Tsvangirai a stooge of the West.
Earlier, the European Union said it was taking a wait-and-see attitude to Zimbabwe's new power-sharing deal, leaving its sanctions unchanged but ready to reconsider them next month, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said.
Mugabe, 84, kept a straight face as the pair shook hands after the ceremony attended by several southern African leaders, while Tsvangirai did so with a beaming smile.
The veteran president, a hero in the country's liberation war who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980, had pledged in the past that the opposition would never rule in his lifetime.
Precise details of how the accord was to work in practice were to be formally unveiled later on Monday.
http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/Zimbabwe/0,,2-11-1662_2393676,00.html
