ZIMBABWEAN POWER-SHARING DEAL SPARKS PRAISE FROM BAN

ZIMBABWEAN POWER-SHARING DEAL SPARKS PRAISE FROM BAN New York, Sep 11 2008 7:10PM Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed today's agreement between the Zimbabwean Government and the country's opposition on the formation of a government of national unity.

"He hopes that this agreement will pave the way for a durable peace and recovery in the country and contribute to rapid improvement in the welfare and human rights of the people of Zimbabwe, who have suffered for long," Mr. Ban's spokesperson said in a <"http://www.un.org/apps/sg/sgstats.asp?nid=3394">statement.

Mr. Ban congratulated the parties for reaching the accord in Harare, the Zimbabwean capital, and commended the mediator, South African President Thabo Mbeki, "for his tireless efforts to help them reach it.

"The United Nations has been supporting the mediation process through the role of the Secretary-General's envoy, Haile Menkerios, in the Reference Group," the statement added.

The power-sharing accord is designed to end the political crisis and resulting violence, unrest and humanitarian suffering that have engulfed Zimbabwe since the first round of national elections were held in March.

In a subsequent presidential run-off round, incumbent Robert Mugabe was declared the winner after opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) dropped out.
2008-09-11 00:00:00.000

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