Zimbabwe on Sunday prepared to inaugurate a president for the second time in nine months as a country recently jubilant over the fall of longtime leader Robert Mugabe is now largely subdued by renewed harassment of the opposition and a bitterly disputed election.
The military-backed President Emmerson Mnangagwa, now facing another swearing-in, faces the mammoth task of rebuilding a worsening economy and uniting a nation deeply divided by a vote that many hoped would deliver change.
The 75-year-old Mnangagwa, who took power from his mentor Mugabe with the military's help in November, said "my door is open and my arms are outstretched" to main opposition leader Nelson Chamisa after the Constitutional Court on Friday rejected opposition claims of vote-rigging and upheld the president's narrow July 30 victory.
People queue to enter the stadium for the inauguration ceremony of Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa, at the National Sports Stadium in Harare, Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018. This is the second swearing-in of Mnangagwa in just nine months as a country once jubilant over the fall of longtime leader Robert Mugabe is now more subdued after the reemergence of harassment of the opposition.(AP PhotoTsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
"It is time to move forward together," said Mnangagwa, who has promised democratic and economic reforms.
Chamisa on Saturday said he respectfully rejects the court ruling and called the inauguration "false."
"They know they can't invite me to a wedding where I was the one supposed to be receiving the gifts," he said. His spokesman Nkululeko Sibanda on Sunday said "we haven't received any formal invitation" to the inauguration.
People queue to enter the stadium for the inauguration ceremony of Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa, at the National Sports Stadium in Harare, Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018. This is the second swearing-in of Mnangagwa in just nine months as a country once jubilant over the fall of longtime leader Robert Mugabe is now more subdued after the reemergence of harassment of the opposition. (AP PhotoTsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
The 40-year-old Chamisa has called for dialogue with Mnangagwa but suggested that talks on power-sharing first must acknowledge the opposition leader's alleged victory. "You cannot steal my goats and then ask me to come and share them with you. Give me the goats first, then we can talk about sharing," he said.
Ruling party spokesman Paul Mangwana criticized Chamisa for saying he will snub the inauguration.
"He should grace the event. It is important for nation-building at this critical time. The problem is the (Movement for Democratic Change party) did not give us a good opposition leader, they gave us a schoolboy, so he is playing schoolboy politics," Mangwana told The Associated Press.
Upbeat supporters of the president and ruling ZANU-PF party streamed into the 60,000-seat National Sports Stadium in the capital, Harare, many wearing pro-Mnangagwa regalia.
Some said they woke up before dawn to catch buses and trucks ferrying them from villages hundreds of kilometers from the capital.
State-run media said the heads of state of South Africa, Congo and Zambia also were attending. Botswana's former leader and a sharp critic of Mugabe, Ian Khama, attended Mnangagwa's first inauguration in November but will miss this time "due to prior commitments," Botswana's government said.
The mood was less enthusiastic in downtown Harare, an opposition stronghold. "He is not my president, why should I go?" asked one resident, Emmanuel Mazunda.
Zimbabwe's economy is in a tailspin. Analysts say Mnangagwa's immediate tasks should include solving severe cash shortages and high unemployment that has forced thousands of people into the streets as vendors. Millions of others have fled the country over the years.
The government badly needed a credible election to end its status as a global pariah, have international sanctions lifted and open the door to investment.
Final reports are pending from dozens of Western election observers invited for the first time in nearly two decades. Observers noted few issues on election day but expressed concern about the "excessive use of force" two days later, when six people were killed as the military swept into the capital to disperse protests.
Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump implored the House on Monday to end the partial government shutdown, but neither Republicans nor Democrats appeared ready to quickly approve the federal funding package he brokered with the Senate without first debating their own demands over immigration enforcement operations.
Democrats are refusing to provide the votes House Speaker Mike Johnson needs to push the package forward as they try to rein in the Trump administration's deportation operations after the shooting deaths of two Americans in Minneapolis. That's forcing Johnson to rely on his slim GOP majority, which has its own complaints about the package, to fall in line behind Trump's deal with Senate Democrats.
Voting is expected to begin as soon as Tuesday, which would be day four of the partial shutdown. The Pentagon, Homeland Security and other agencies saw their funding lapse Saturday. And while many operations at those departments are deemed essential, and still functioning, some workers may go without pay or be furloughed.
“We need to get the Government open, and I hope all Republicans and Democrats will join me in supporting this Bill, and send it to my desk WITHOUT DELAY,” the president wrote on social media.
“There can be NO CHANGES at this time," Trump insisted. "We will work together in good faith to address the issues that have been raised, but we cannot have another long, pointless, and destructive Shutdown.”
The stalemate points to difficult days ahead as Johnson relies on Trump to help muscle the package to passage.
The president struck a deal last week with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer in which Homeland Security would only be funded temporarily, though Feb. 13, as Congress debates changes to immigration enforcement operations. The Senate overwhelmingly approved the package with the rest of the government funding ahead of Saturday's deadline.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries made it clear Monday that his side sees no reason to help Johnson push the bill forward in a procedural step, something that the majority party typically handles on its own.
With Johnson facing unrest from his own Republican ranks, Jeffries is seizing the leverage it provides Democrats to demand changes to immigration operations.
“On rare occasions have we stepped in to deal with Republican dysfunction,” Jeffries said at the Capitol.
Democrats are demanding restraints on Immigration and Customs Enforcement that go beyond $20 million for body cameras that already is in the bill. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Monday that officers on the ground in Minneapolis, including ICE, will be immediately issued body-worn cameras, and the program would be expanded nationwide as funding is available.
But Democrats are pressing for more. They want to require that federal immigration agents unmask — noting that few, if any, other law enforcement agencies routinely mask themselves in the U.S. — and they want officers to rely on judicial, rather than administrative, warrants in their operations.
They also want an end to roving patrols, amid other changes.
Jeffries said the administration needs to begin negotiations now, not over the next two weeks, on changes to immigration enforcement operations.
Certain Democrats, however, are splintering with the leader, and pushing for quicker passage of the funding package to avoid government disruptions.
At the same time, House Republicans, with some allies in the Senate, are making their own demands, as they work to support Trump's clampdown on immigrants in the U.S.
The House Freedom Caucus has insisted on fuller funding for Homeland Security while certain Republicans pushed to include the SAVE Act, a longshot Trump priority that would require proof of citizenship before Americans are eligible to participate in elections and vote. Critics say it would disenfranchise millions of voters.
Late Monday, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., dropped her demand to attach the voting bill to the funding package after she and Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., met with Trump at the White House. She posted afterward that it would be better to try to advance that bill separately through the Senate, and keep the government open.
The development was seen as helping Johnson push ahead.
“Obviously the president really wants this,” Majority Leader Steve Scalise said at the Capitol.
“We always work 'til the midnight hour to get the votes," Scalise said. "You never start the process with everybody on board. You work through it."
Meanwhile, a number of federal agencies are snared in the funding standoff after the government went into a partial shutdown over the weekend.
Defense, health, transportation and housing are among those that were given shutdown guidance by the administration, though many operations are deemed essential and services are not necessarily interrupted. Workers could go without pay if the impasse drags on. Some could be furloughed.
Lawmakers from both parties are increasingly concerned the closure will disrupt the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which they rely on to help constituents after deadly snowstorms and other disasters.
This is the second time in a matter of months that federal government operations have been disrupted as lawmakers use the annual funding process as leverage to extract policy changes. Last fall, Democrats sparked what became the longest federal shutdown in history, 43 days, as they protested the expiration of health insurance tax breaks.
That shutdown ended with a promise to vote on proposals to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits. But with GOP opposition, Democrats were unable to achieve their goal of keeping the subsidies in place. Insurance premiums spiked in the new year for millions of people.
Trump is already working on an immigration deal to ensure the shutdown doesn't drag on.
Johnson said he was in the Oval Office last week when Trump, along with border czar Tom Homan, spoke with Schumer of New York as they discussed the immigration changes.
Body cameras, which are already provided for in the package, and an end to the roving patrols by immigration agents are areas of potential agreement, Johnson said.
But Johnson drew a line at other Democratic demands. He said he does not think that requiring immigration officers to remove their masks would have support from Republicans because it could lead to problems if their personal images and private information is posted online by protesters.
And Senate Majority Leader John Thune tapped the brakes on the demand from Democrats to require judicial warrants for officers' searches, saying it's likely to be a part of the negotiations ahead.
“It’s going to be very difficult to reach agreement in two weeks,” Thune said at the Capitol.
Democrats, however, said the immigration operations are out of control, and must end in Minneapolis and other cities.
Growing numbers of lawmakers are also calling for Noem to be fired or impeached.
__
Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Matt Brown and Nathan Ellgren contributed to this report.
House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole, R-Okla., prepares to speak before the House Rules Committee as the panel meets to advance a federal funding package and prevent a prolonged partial government shutdown, at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., brings the House Rules Committee to order as they meet to advance a federal funding package and prevent a prolonged partial government shutdown, at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., walks through the House Rules Committee hearing room to meet with Republicans on the panel as they try to advance a federal funding package and prevent a prolonged partial government shutdown, at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
The U.S. Capitol is photographed Friday, Jan. 30, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in Palm Beach, Fla., as he arrives to attend the wedding of White House deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino and Erin Elmore, the director of Art in Embassies at the U.S. Department of State. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks to members of the media at the U.S. Capitol, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
