Post date: Jul 23, 2012 10:9:19 AM
CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA (JULY 23) (AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION) - The Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, Morgan Tsvangirai, on Monday (July 23) told his Australian counterpart, Julia Gillard, that his country is ready to re-engage with the international community.
Zimbabwe is ready to re-join the international community, Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai says during a visit to Australia.
Western governments have considered easing sanctions since a power-sharing deal was agreed between President Robert Mugabe and Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, following disputed 2008 elections.
Mugabe, 88, has ruled the country since its independence from Britain in 1980.
He was forced into a power-sharing deal with rival Tsvangirai after the disputed 2008 poll, marred by ZANU-PF (Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front) violence and intimidation, in which some 200 of Tsvangirai's supporters were killed.
The United Nations in May, had called on Zimbabwe to take steps to prevent a repeat of the 2008 political violence in elections that are due next year.
On Monday, Gillard called Tsvangirai a 'hero'.
"You are a hero. Like Nelson Mandela, like Aung San Suu Kyi, like Xanana Gusmao you are one of the remarkable figures of our times. You embody in your own courage the aspirations of an entire people," she said.
Zimbabwe has been plunged into poverty due to what analysts have said is economic mismanagement by entrenched Mugabe and his party, hit with sanctions for suspected human rights abuses and vote rigging.
Analysts say the sanctions have been exploited by Mugabe for his political purposes, blaming them for his party's economic blunders that have caused what once was one of Africa's richest nations to now be among its poorest.
Speaking on a three-day visit to Canberra, Tvsangirai said he hoped Zimbabwe was through the worst and heading in the right direction.
"I know that we have gone through a very dark history of our country. A very dark and unfortunate history in which brother was fighting against brother. And I hope that as people move to believe in Africa once more, not as a continent of poverty, hunger and disease, but as an opportunity continent, Zimbabwe can ride on that crest also, and be one of the leading countries on our continent," he said.
No date has been set for polls but the time frame for the power sharing deal known as the "global political agreement" has key provisions expiring in June 2013 with one stating national elections should take place before the end of the process.
Global aid agencies and international businesses are expected to inject billions of dollars once Zimbabwe, which has the world's second-largest platinum reserves, has a stable government.