Mugabe downcast over power-sharing talks

Mugabe downcast over power-sharing talks

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Last updated: 11/08/2008 20:33:42
POWER-SHARING talks between Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu PF party and the two opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) formations were in danger of failing on Monday night, a ruling Zanu PF official said.

President Robert Mugabe, and the MDC faction leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara have been locked in talks with South African President Thabo Mbeki -- the regional mediator -- since Sunday, breaking off in the small hours of Sunday before reconvening on Monday afternoon.

"It looks like we have reached some kind of stalemate which is threatening the whole dialogue. Tsvangirai is moving goalposts, forcing us to negotiate issues which we had already agreed upon," the unnamed Zanu PF official was quoted as saying by the news agency, Reuters.

Mugabe also gave a downcast assessment of the negotiations when he emerged from the talks late Monday.

Asked as he left the session whether the negotiations were going well, Mugabe said: "Not exactly."

Mugabe said sticking points "will be overcome".

More talks were planned on Tuesday, he said.

Both sides are under pressure to reach a deal that could end a post-election political crisis and increase the chances of economic recovery.

Reuters quoted the Zanu PF official as saying Tsvangirai was asking to reopen talks on the issue of Mugabe leading a new unity government, which Zanu PF says is not open to negotiation.

"This is an issue that we had settled and he (Tsvangirai) is also suggesting that he must be given full authority to appoint any new government."

MDC officials were not immediately available for comment.

But the privately-owned SW Radio Africa which broadcasts from London quoted an unnamed official in Tsvangirai's MDC as saying the party would walk away from the negotiating table if the talks dragged beyond Monday.

"The talks cannot go on for ever. The MDC has made it known to Thabo Mbeki that they are not happy with the time it has taken to resolve the crisis," the radio station quoted the MDC official as saying on its website.

The turnaround from the optimism of Monday morning when the parties broke off from 14 hours of negotiations will alarm Zimbabwe watchers who were looking at a possible deal between Mugabe and the opposition to haul the country back from economic ruin and a debilitating political stalemate that has lasted over a decade.

Earlier Monday, sources close to the talks were indicating that the parties were stuck on the single issue of who will chair cabinet meetings between Mugabe and Tsvangirai. But when the parties reconvened following Heroes' Day commemorations, the mood appears to have changed.

It remained unclear if President Mbeki, mediating in the crisis, would return to South Africa on Monday, as a spokesman had earlier indicated.

Mbeki is desperate to secure a deal ahead of a gathering of SADC heads of state in Johannesburg from Friday. He is also keen to stave off criticism from western countries who have for long said his "quiet dioplomacy" in Zimbabwe is a failure, suggesting he should take a tougher stance with President Mugabe.
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