War vets rule out GPA extension

05/02/2011 00:00:00 by Staff Reporter

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Enough! ... Joseph Chinotimba   RELATED STORIES Power sharing is over: Mugabe Zuma deadline given short shrift Ncube berates ‘greedy, insincere’ MDC-T WAR veterans leader Joseph Chinotimba has said Zimbabwe's power sharing government must not be extended next week when the Global Political Agreement (GPA) expires. Chinotimba said the former liberation war fighters want the inclusive government out of office saying it had failed to push for the removal of sanctions imposed by Western countries. "This unity government must end on February 11. It must not be extended (because) sanctions are yet to be removed. We must then go back to the old constitution where President Mugabe remains the head of state," Chinotimba told local media. "We met as war veterans and that is what we want; and to go for an election later this year." Mugabe, who turns 87 this year, has expressed frustration over disagreements in the coalition government and claimed the arrangement was semi-legal and generally unworkable. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai accuses Mugabe of routinely flouting the terms of the coalition deal and refusing to fully implement its provisions. But the Zanu PF leader says his coalition partners have failed to get their Western allies to remove sanctions he claims are hurting ordinary people and holding back efforts to revive the country’s battered economy. Mugabe has demanded that new elections must be held this year to elect a substantive government and warned that the polls may go ahead even if ongoing constitutional reforms are not completed in time.