SKL International is looking into the possibilities of once again co-operating with municipalities in Zimbabwe. The Swedish Association of Local Authorities was heavily involved in local government support to Zimbabwe during the 1980:ies. During the past year SKL International has maintained a dialogue with Sida on the potential of initating support to strengthen the local level once again, e.g. through capacity building of newly elected local government politicians.
In line with the above, SKL International attended a seminar on June 16th with Ms Gunilla Carlsson, Minister for International Development Co-operation and Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, currently visiting Sweden, hosted by the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Swedish parliament and the Swedish Institute of International Affairs.
During more than a decade of political turmoil and economic decline in Zimbabwe, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai has stood as the primary opposition leader to the Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe. On 11 of February 2009, following a long period of political negotiation, he was sworn in as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe in the, so called, "Inclusive Government". In his speach at the Swedish Parliament, Tsvangirai focused on convincing the International community of the positive steps in Zimbabwe e.g. by pointing at the quick gains of the dollarisation in the country resulting e.g. in re-opening of schools and clinics and stop of inflation. Primarily, Tsvangirai is forward looking in talking about the aspiration for a transitional reform process including judicial reforms regaining rule of law, security reforms and, not least, an agricultural reform to make Zimbabwe the "bread basket of Africa" it once was. For this, he stated, Zimbabwe needs external support.
Gunilla Carlsson expressed her "solid support for the Zimbabwean people" and without making promises said she would look into opportunities of extending Swedish interventions from humanitarian aid to supporting the transitional reform process.
