Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga has urged Robert Mugabe to ‘relinquish power’ saying the ZANU PF leader alone was ‘responsible for the political stalemate’ in Zimbabwe. Speaking in France during a joint press conference with the French Foreign Affairs Minister, Odinga did not mince his words, bluntly saying; ‘In Zimbabwe Mr. Mugabe is not part of the solution to the political problem; he himself, is the problem.’

Odinga urged the international community to act fast in trying to convince Mugabe to step down, arguing this would be better for Zimbabweans who have already suffered enough. "Moreover it's high time these political compromises were stopped, that in our countries allow losers to remain in power," Odinga said. Kenya, like Zimbabwe, was the first to have a power sharing government that accommodated both the winners and losers of a controversial election which was marred by violence and many deaths.

Last week Thursday, Botswana’s President Ian Khama warned that Zimbabwe’s power sharing government was on the verge of collapse. Speaking to the AFP news agency on the sidelines of a rally in Botswana, ahead of elections which he eventually won, Khama said of the coalition; ‘It is limping along and there is a real danger that the whole thing could collapse.’ Khama made it clear if the coalition did collapse they would not recognize a ZANU PFonly government headed by Mugabe because ‘he certainly did not win the presidential election last year.’

By Staff reporter and agencies