Mbeki, Mugabe and Mutambara upbeat about talks

Mbeki, Mugabe and Mutambara upbeat about talks

SMILES: President Mbeki is welcomed by President Mugabe at the Harare International Airport on Wednesday, July 30

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POWER-SHARING talks between Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu PF and opposition MDC are set to resume Sunday, South African President Thabo Mbeki said after meeting President Robert Mugabe.

"The talks are progressing. They (the negotiators) want to resume on Sunday," Mbeki, who is mediating the talks at a secret location near Pretoria, told reporters here Wednesday.

Mbeki flew to Harare for discussions with Mugabe after the talks adjourned on Tuesday amid suggestions by the MDC that they were deadlocked.

"We came just to brief the president on how far the negotiations have gone," said the South African president.

"There are naturally some matters which require the negotiators to come back to consult. That's why they are all here in Harare today," added Mbeki, whose discussions with Mugabe lasted an hour.

Mbeki said he had already met Mugabe's rival, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, in Pretoria on Tuesday after the negotiations adjourned.

In Harare, he also met Arthur Mutambara, the leader of another MDC faction later Wednesday.

"Yes there is progress and we remain committed to a settlement to the Zimbabwean crisis," Mutambara told AFP.

Earlier, the 84-year-old Mugabe expressed his "total commitment" to the negotiations, insisting they were "going well".

"We are still negotiating, we want to succeed..," Mugabe told guests at a central bank function to announce a new monetary policy.

"We would like to see the speedy conclusion of the talks ... and successful outcome so that we can focus in the future our attention around our economy," Mugabe added.

Tsvangirai, Mugabe and Mutambara signed an accord on July 21 to begin talks on sharing power after a months-long election dispute.

The MDC said in a statement Wednesday that two more of its activists were killed last week, allegedly by Zanu PF supporters, even after the accord signing in Harare.

"The deaths show that there is no sincerity on the part of Zanu PF. The death of the two brings to 122 the number of MDC activists who have been murdered since the March 29 harmonised elections," it said.

Mugabe, who leads a country with record 2.2 million percent inflation, linked Zimbabwe's economic future to a successful outcome of the talks.

"We want to see a turnaround for our economy, we want to see a turnaround on our political front," he told guests at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) function.

But he warned that in such negotiations, "there is no winner or loser. Things are not easy all the time."

"There are stages that require the leaders themselves. I hope that stage comes soon," he added.

"Our detractors accused us of inflexibility. Then when we started talking, they proceeded to impose sanctions which we don't understand," he said in reference to recent US and EU sanctions.

"As Zimbabweans, we should summon our collective will to unite and unite as we do in business. Only through unity can we defeat imperialism," he said.

Mugabe also said he was prepared to impose tough emergency measures against businesses he accused of profiteering and fuelling inflation. - AFP
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