Tsvangirai addresses Swedish parliament

By Tichaona Sibanda
16 June 2009

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai capped off a busy two day visit to Sweden on Tuesday by addressing the Swedish parliament in Stockholm.

James Maridadi, spokesman for Tsvangirai told us the Prime Minister had spent a busy 48 hours in the Swedish capital. Apart from his address to parliament, Tsvangirai also had talks with the Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt.

In the morning he had a private audience with the crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and also held talks with the Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt. According to Maridadi, the highlight of Tsvangirai’s visit was his meeting with Prime Minister Reinfeldt. The Swedish PM told journalists that increased democracy in Zimbabwe will be a priority for the European Union when his country takes over the bloc's leadership from the 1st of July.

Reinfeldt said the EU wants to halt political violence in Zimbabwe and increase the responsibility for human rights and democracy. The Swedish Prime Minister said he saw positive signs in the country but did not offer any aid; rather, he urged the inclusive government to push through economic and political reforms.

‘Politically motivated violence needs to be stopped, the rule of law and the freedom of media must be established,’ Reinfeldt said.

In response Tsvangirai said the country was ‘on the road’ to democracy and that further reforms were needed to provide political stability.

‘We are making a case for reengagement because we as Zimbabweans have decided, not for the sake of the international community but for our own sake, that we need the freedoms, the reforms and we need economic recovery, whether President Mugabe is there or not,’ Tsvangirai said.

Dewa Mavhinga, a human rights lawyer said the new government must demonstrate to the world that they are on an irreversible path to democracy.

‘What is worrying us is that the West is telling the leaders of Zimbabwe to reform. These calls should be coming from Zimbabwe, and not from outsiders to champion the human rights cause in the country,’ Mavhinga said.

‘We are still lagging behind in terms of all tenets of democracy. Nothing has changed on the ground and we are still a long way back. We need wide-spread reforms, changes to the army, police, media and judiciary,’ Mavhinga added.

Tsvangirai was in Sweden as part of an international tour to secure pledges for economic aid and was due to visit Oslo, Norway on Tuesday night.

So far, western donors have said aid will only begin to flow when a democracy is created, and economic reforms are implemented. Aid is now slowly beginning to trickle into aid agencies, bypassing the government. Germany pledged $30million on Monday, and U.S. President Barack Obama promised last week to give $73 million to help fight AIDS and promote good governance.

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