Zimbabwe

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 2:57 pm on 3 November 2008.

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Photo of Lord Malloch-Brown Lord Malloch-Brown Minister of State, Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Minister of State (Africa, Asia and the UN) 2:57, 3 November 2008

My Lords, the whole international community shares with the noble Baroness a frustration that in all the weeks since the power-sharing agreement was signed in September, it still cannot be implemented, because of opposition by President Mugabe to the sharing of cabinet portfolios, which was called for in the agreement. The SADC negotiator spent four days in Harare last week without being able to break that deadlock. We expect there to be a SADC heads of government meeting of some kind next week, and we very much hope that it will resolve this issue before there is more economic hardship and loss of life.