Zanu PF, MDC negotiators begin talks

Zanu PF, MDC negotiators begin talks

• Text: Memorandum of Understanding between Zanu PF and MDC

• Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara sign agreement

• Tsvangirai gives nod to power sharing talks

• AU, UN and SADC reaffirm support for Mbeki

• Ping snubs MDC ahead of Mbeki meeting

• South Africa slams US, UK criticism

• Additional Zim mediator 'fake issue' - Pahad

• Confusion over fate of Zanu PF, MDC talks

• MDC, Zanu PF talks enter second day

• US, UK sanctions push in trouble as Zanu PF, MDC resume talks

• Tsvangirai pulls out of Mbeki, Mugabe talks

• Mbeki rejects EU demands on Zimbabwe

• South Africa calls for transitional government

• Mbeki's 'scathing' report to Mugabe

• 200 'violence victims' camp at SA embassy

• Mbeki gives emergency summit a miss

• Mbeki urges Mugabe to call off election

• Tsvangirai meets Mbeki over poll

• Mbeki set for Mugabe talks in Bulawayo

• Mbeki 'seriously concerned' over Zimbabwe election

NEGOTIATORS from Zimbabwe's opposition and ruling party were due to hold a first round of talks in South Africa on Tuesday aimed at putting an end to the country's months-long political crisis.

But as representatives of the ruling Zanu PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) prepared to sit down at talks in Pretoria, the European Union sought to tighten the screw on veteran President Robert Mugabe's regime by stepping up sanctions .

South African leader Thabo Mbeki, who has previously warned that further sanctions could damage the delicate talks process, was expected to oversee the mediation which has the potential to salvage his tarnished reputation.

"They will start later today in South Africa at an undisclosed venue. Later this afternoon," Mbeki's spokesman Mukoni Ratshitanga told AFP.

Edwin Mushoriwa, spokesman for a smaller faction of Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC which will also be present at the negotiations, meanwhile confirmed the venue as Pretoria.

"The talks will be held in Pretoria, but far away from town and the media. These will be two weeks of intense discussions," he told AFP.

Both sides agreed in their memorandum of understanding inked in Harare to observe a media blackout during the course of their negotiations which should be wrapped up within a fortnight.

A source in Mugabe's Zanu PF party confirmed that Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa and Labour Minister Nicolas Goche were flying to South Africa.

"We expect that they will leave later in the day," he said.

And a source in Tsvangirai's wing of the MDC said its main negotiator Tendai Biti and national chairman Lovemore Moyo were flying to South Africa.

While commentators have warned significant obstacles remain in the path towards forming "an inclusive government", both Tsvangirai and Mugabe tried on Monday to draw a line under a crisis sparked by disputed elections in March.

At a ceremony in Harare overseen by Mbeki, Mugabe and Tsvangirai shook hands in their first meeting since the opposition leader formed the MDC in 1999 -- albeit with few signs of warmth.

In a letter to party supporters Tuesday, Tsvangirai warned "our signatures alone do not guarantee that we will be able to make the most of this opportunity."

Long-standing bitterness between the two hit new heights during the course of the election run-off when Tsvangirai was detained on five separate occasions while campaigning and his number two, Tendai Biti, arrested for treason.

The MDC leader subsequently pulled out of the contest after dozens of his party's supporters were killed in attacks that he blamed on pro-Mugabe thugs.

Ignoring widespread calls to shelve the ballot, Mugabe went ahead and staged the poll, winning by a predictable landslide.

The vote was widely condemned in the West as a sham, with the European Union warning that it would not deal with a government unless headed by Tsvangirai.

Despite the Harare agreement, EU foreign ministers still pushed ahead with plans to widen sanctions against Zimbabwe on Tuesday, adding 37 more people to a list of individuals under a visa ban and asset freeze, officials confirmed.

The EU's French presidency and an EU official said that four "entities" -- probably major companies -- would also be added to the list of more than 130 individuals under a visa ban and whose assets are frozen.

It is the first time that business people and companies in Zimbabwe have been targetted by EU measures.

Once seen as a post-colonial success story, the former British colony's economy has been in meltdown since Mugabe began a land reform programme at the turn of the decade and annual inflation now stands at some 2.2 million percent. - AFP
JOIN THE DEBATE ON THIS ARTICLE ON THE NEWZIMBABWE.COM FORUMS
newsdesk@newzimbabwe.com