So much for optimism. In a move that embodies the man's hubris, Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party has negotiated a deal with the Movement for Democratic Change. The catch is that he brokered the agreement not with Morgan Tsvangirai's wing of the MDC, which represents the vast majority of the party (and thus at minimum a significant plurality and probably a majority of the country's popular support) but rather with Arthur Mutambara's breakaway MDC faction. As of right now, the terms of the agreement are unknown but they appear to exclude Tsvangirai entirely.
Hints that something along these lines was developing came yesterday in a story (that I posted in my post) about how the negotiations were faltering and speculating that Mutambara might have a voice when all was said and done. The MDC has been wracked by division in recent years, but not many anticipated that Mugabe would be able to exploit that division so skillfully, though few will be surprised at his ability to act so brazenly and cynically.
This story gets worse before it gets better.
