MDC renews call for "political solution"

The Zimbabwean opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has renewed calls for a "political solution" to the escalating crisis in the wake of the controversial clean-up campaign, which has left thousands of people homeless. "We have to ask, 'Where is the country going?' We have been calling for talks all along," MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai told IRIN. A government crackdown on informal settlements and markets has left about 200,000 urban dwellers without shelter or the means to survive, while trying to cope with fuel and food shortages. Zimbabwe has an unemployment rate of 70 percent. Unofficial talks between the two parties have been 'on' and 'off' since the 2002 presidential election, which many poll observers rejected as flawed and marred by political violence. Earlier this year the clergy attempted to break the political impasse between the two parties, but failed. The call to reopen talks between the two parties is perhaps the only feasible strategy the MDC can pursue, according to Chris Maroleng, a researcher with the Institute for Security Studies, a Pretoria-based think-tank. The clean-up campaign targeting informal settlements in cities and towns has challenged the MDC's support base, which is largely urban, he added. "The MDC has to look within to identify a workable strategy to challenge the ZANU-PF hegemony."