US embassy cable - 02HARARE1136

C O N F I D E N T I A L HARARE 001136 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NSC FOR SENIOR AF DIRECTOR FRAZER 
NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER 
LONDON FOR GURNEY 
PARIS FOR NEARY 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/10/2012 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, ZI 
SUBJECT: ZANU-PF REQUESTS SUSPENSION OF PARTY TALKS 
 
REF: A) HARARE 913 B) HARARE 907 C) HARARE 898 AND 
 
     PREVIOUS 
 
Classified By: political section chief Matt Harrington. 
Reasons:  1.5 (B) and (D). 
 
1.  (U)  ZANU-PF has requested suspension of the talks with 
the opposition MDC.  In a letter dated May 9 (faxed to AF/S) 
to the Nigerian and South African facilitators, the leader of 
the ruling party's negotiating team -- Justice Minister 
Patrick Chinamasa -- cited several reasons for the request. 
First and foremost, the MDC had filed a legal challenge of 
the presidential election results.   ZANU-PF believed "the 
judicial process must be allowed to run its course" and that 
the talks should not resume until final resolution of the 
court case. Chinamasa also accused the MDC of acting in bad 
faith by placing "inflammatory newspaper adverts about the 
ongoing talks and planting false stories in the media 
alleging ZANU-PF violence."  Of course, no Chinamasa 
rhetorical flourish would be complete without a finger of 
blame pointed at the United Kingdom.  In an apparent 
reference to an anodyne comment by the British High 
Commissioner expressing his support for the inter-party 
talks, Chinamasa wrote "it is not in the interest of the 
Dialogue for the MDC to use the British Government as a 
divisive imperial voice in a dialogue that is supposed to be 
among Zimbabweans for Zimbabweans and their country." 
 
2.  (C)  A South African diplomat told us that the 
facilitators -- Kgalema Motlanthe and Adebayo Adedeji -- had 
not yet arrived in Zimbabwe for next week's round of talks. 
However, the letters would be conveyed to them, and he 
suspected they would consult with their respective bosses -- 
Presidents Mbeki and Obasanjo -- to agree on an appropriate 
reaction. 
 
3.  (C)  Gandi Mudzingwa, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai's 
special advisor and a member of the party's negotiating team, 
was convoked by the South African and Nigerian High 
Commissioners the morning of May 10, after the 
state-controlled "The Herald" carried a front-page story 
titled "Interparty Talks Shelved."  They told Mudzingwa that 
they had received Chinamasa's letter but had not read it (a 
puzzling assertion since we got our copy of the letter from a 
South African diplomat) and forwarded it to Motlanthe and 
Adedeji.  In the absence of any further official 
communication, the MDC should assume that the facilitators 
will arrive as scheduled on May 12 and that the talks will 
begin as planned on May 13.  Mudzingwa told us the MDC would 
not press the ruling party to participate in talks, but would 
likely state publicly that its door is always open for 
negotiations, should ZANU-PF wish to engage. 
 
4.  (C) Comment: ZANU-PF was never enthusiastic about 
participating in these talks, and has clearly seized on the 
MDC's legal challenge as a pretext -- along with other flimsy 
excuses -- for withdrawing.   The ruling party was not 
interested in discussing the legitimacy of Mugabe's election 
victory, and the suspension request suggests a fear it might 
be forced to make unwanted concessions.  ZANU-PF's move  will 
certainly not strengthen the party's standing with Presidents 
Mbeki and Obasanjo, who have devoted significant personal 
attention to Zimbabwe's crisis.  It will be interesting to 
see whether the facilitators merely concur with Chinamasa's 
request, or whether they push back.  For its part, the MDC, 
which expected little from this forum, can now claim the high 
moral ground and assume the mantle of magnanimity. 
SULLIVAN