Press cautious on Zimbabwe deal

Many feel the key challenge will be to get the economy back on track

Editorials in the African press give a guarded response to the new power-sharing deal in Zimbabwe.

Many feel the key challenge will be trying to get the impoverished African country's economy back on track, by attracting investment and bringing down inflation.

However, they also feel the coalition still has to prove that it is truly capable of turning a new page and putting "the nation first."

The agreement was made in Zimbabwe by Zimbabweans and is an affirmation of the supremacy of African solutions to African problems.

The process of national healing, we want to believe, started yesterday. The focus now should be on getting the economy back on its feet so that the country can regain its position in the community of nations.

It will take more than a piece of paper to persuade the greedy thugs who have run the country into the ground to share power with opposition groups they despise... It is private sector investment that will ensure a sustainable recovery and that will not materialize unless it is clear that there are new and more enlightened hands manipulating the levers of power.

Until yesterday, the keys to Zimbabwe's political theatre were firmly in the grip of ZANU-PF, whose political actors doubled up as theatre managers, choreographers, lighting crew and so forth... But ZANU-PF will now have to learn that the theatre of democracy goes beyond the shadow puppetry of revolutionary politics.

Zimbabwe is unique. With hyper-inflation at 20 million per cent and a third of its citizens in exile, it is time to turn a new leaf. It is time to stem the tide of hopelessness, desperation and haul the nation out of the pit.

As Zimbabwe embarks on the path of coalition government that was pioneered this year by Kenya, the political leaders must eschew partisan and selfish interests and put the nation first. Mr Tsvangirai said as much in his acceptance speech. But realizing that novelty is a gargantuan task.

BBC Monitoring selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaux abroad.

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