VZCZCXYZ0001
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUCNDT #1105/01 3262318
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 212318Z NOV 08
FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5418
INFO RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHSB/AMEMBASSY HARARE PRIORITY 0149

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 001105 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM ZI ZU
SUBJECT: ZIMBABWE AT THE UN: POWER SHARING STALLED, COUNTRY 
A "BASKET CASE" 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  UN A/SYG Menkerios told the Security 
Council on November 20 Zimbabwe's power sharing negotiations 
were stalled.  He warned of dire humanitarian and economic 
crises, and said the control of the police was the most 
pressing issue.  South Africa, Russia, China, and Viet Nam 
supported SADC's suggestion to spilt the police ministry 
between the two parties.  The UK, Croatia, Italy, Belgium, 
and the U.S. said the refusal of President Mugabe and the 
ZANU-PF to honor the deal giving police to MDC had stalled 
negotiations.  UKUN tells USUN that London expects to push on 
Zimbabwe as soon as South Africa leaves the Council.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
POLITICAL STALEMATE 
 
¶2. (SBU) UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs 
Haile Menkerios on November 20 briefed the Security Council 
on the political stalemate and growing humanitarian crisis in 
Zimbabwe.  Menkerios said division of the security forces 
remained the most contentious issue, following opposition 
leader Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC party's refusal to go along 
with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) 
November 9 summit proposal to share the Home Affairs ministry 
with the President Mugabe's ZANU-PF party.  Menkerios said 
the MDC does not believe President Mugabe and the ZANU-PF 
negotiate with goodwill, and quoted Tsvangirai saying "no 
deal is better than a bad deal."  Now, Menkerios said, MDC 
took issue with other areas of power-sharing previously not 
believed to be contentious, following ZANU-PF's desire to 
control of at least half of the Home Affairs ministry.  MDC's 
new concerns include the role of the National Security 
Council, the appointment of ambassadors and permanent 
secretaries, and the appointments of 10 provisional 
governors, according to Menkerios. 
 
HUMANITARIAN CRISIS DIRE; ECONOMIC COLLAPSE PREDICTED 
 
¶3. (SBU) Menkerios said the Zimbabwe economy was likely to 
collapse, which would provoke probable mass violence and an 
even greater humanitarian crisis.  He said the people of 
Zimbabwe "are being held hostage" by this political 
stalemate, and commented water and health issues are now 
chronic.  Most Council members' remarks reiterated the dire 
humanitarian situation, with many speakers noting five 
million people are expected to become food insecure by early 
2009 and that cholera, a "disease of poverty," as South 
African PermRep Kumalo called it, has returned to Zimbabwe. 
 
UK, CROATIA, ITALY, BELGIUM AND THE U.S. BLAME ZANU-PF 
 
¶4. (SBU) UK PermRep Sawers said the ZANU-PF should "shoulder 
the responsibility" for this crisis, as ZANU-PF went back on 
the September 15 power-sharing deal brokered with the MDC. 
Sawers said violence was increasing and needed to be 
addressed immediately, before it spilled over Zimbabwe's 
borders.  He recalled the Kofi Annan comment that Zimbabwe, 
once the breadbasket for the region, has become "a basket 
case."  Italy and Croatia also joined the UK in saying Mugabe 
was responsible for the crisis.  Belgium PermRep Grauls said 
Mugabe's unilateral appointments were hurting the chances for 
reconciliation.  DepPolCouns said the SADC proposal for 
sharing the police ministry contravened the letter and spirit 
of the September 15 agreement and Mugabe needed to accede to 
an equitable power-sharing deal. 
 
RUSSIA, CHINA, VIET NAM, AND SOUTH AFRICA SUPPORT POLICE SPLIT 
 
¶5. (SBU) Russian Minister Dolgov said the delays in 
negotiations were because the MDC was not flexible.  He said 
Russia supported South African envoy Mbeki and SADC's efforts 
to resolve this impasse.  China said AU and SADC mediation 
should be supported and Viet Nam believed the government 
should be established from the SADC recommendations. 
 
¶6. (SBU)  Kumalo said "99.9" of the separation of ministries 
were agreed on, and the fight is now over the one seat that 
controls the police.  He said the army ministry "was never in 
dispute," and the MDC requested, and received, the ministries 
important to them:  constitutional affairs; economic 
planning; economic finance; five of the six social 
portfolios; and others.  Kumalo said the MDC appeared to want 
the European Union to "impose them into power."  He said the 
MDC "never won an election." 
 
UK STAKING GROUND FOR POSSIBLE 2009 RESOLUTION 
 
¶7. (SBU) Sawers rebutted Kumalo's election comment by saying 
MDC won the parliamentary election.  UK Counselor David 
Quarrey later stressed MDC was prevented from competing in 
the presidential runoff due to the brutality of the police 
 
 
and the army.  Quarrey said if the parties shared the police 
ministry, ZANU-PF would in essence control it, as exhibited 
by the police's violence and brutality during the election 
and runoff period. 
 
¶8. (SBU) The UK experts told the P3 before this session UK's 
intention was to "put down a marker" this year for potential 
Council action in 2009.  UK Zimbabwe affairs director 
Alistair Harrison, while in New York on October 31, told P3 
representatives Russia would have greater difficulty blocking 
a resolution on Zimbabwe without South Africa's regional 
support for a veto (NOTE: Russia and China vetoed the June 
2008 Council resolution calling for sanctions against Mugabe 
and 13 other regime leaders.  South Africa, Viet Nam, and 
Libya also voted no.  END NOTE).  South Africa leaves the 
Council in December 2008.  Harrison said the UK was sending a 
group to Uganda to both prep Uganda for its role on the 
Council and to encourage Uganda's assistance in returning 
Zimbabwe to the Council for action.  Uganda takes South 
Africa's seat on the Council in January, 2009. 
Wolff