Battle for control of the police scuppers cabinet deal

• 'It's a day of deals' - Mugabe says as talks enter fourth day

• Feud over 'key ministries' delays cabinet deal

• Zimbabwe cabinet deal near - Mugabe, MDC

• Talks resume, focus on finance ministry

• Mbeki takes over cabinet talks, no deal on first day

• Mugabe risks MDC fury by parcelling out ministries

• Mbeki to travel to Zim 'next week' - MDC

• Morgan Tsvangirai: Statement on the state of cabinet talks

• Tsvangirai calls in Mbeki to break deadlock

• Zanu PF says MDC jeopardising talks

• Zuma urges Zimbabwe parties to keep talking

• Tsvangirai: We must respond to crisis with utmost urgency

• Mugabe calls on West to lift 'demonic' sanctions

• Mbeki still the point man in Zimbabwe - SADC

• Excerpts of Mutambara's speech at signing of power sharing deal

• Copy of Zimbabwe power sharing document

• In Quotes: World reaction to power sharing deal

• Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara sign power sharing deal

Posted to the web: 18/10/2008 01:22:54
ZIMBABWE’S President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai failed Friday to agree on who should control the Home Affairs ministry, and turned to neighbouring countries to help break the impasse.

Following four days of lengthy negotiations, the two remained divided on how to share the sole ministry under which the police force falls – scuppering a month-old power-sharing deal seen as the best chance for rescuing the country from economic collapse.

But South African leader Thabo Mbeki, who is mediating the talks, said that the security organ of the South African Development Community (SADC) would pick up the negotiations on Monday in Swaziland in a bid to save the deal.

"The negotiations are continuing. I wouldn't say there is a deadlock," Mbeki told reporters shortly after midnight, in his first public remarks on the talks.

Emerging from a Harare hotel where the talks were being held, Mugabe promised that his Zanu PF party would issue a full statement on Saturday.

"The talks went well (but) in the wrong direction. We will issue a full statement tomorrow (today) where we would tell in detail the outcome of the talks and give the way forward," President Mugabe said.

Patrick Chinamasa, Zimbabwe’s Justice Minister and Zanu PF’s chief negotiator during the talks said: "At the conclusion of four days of very intense dialogue the parties reconfirmed the allocation of ministries as per the Government Gazette of last week Friday except for the ministries of Finance and Home Affairs.

"Zanu PF agreed to allocate the Ministry of Finance to MDC-T. One can say that the discussions, however, largely centred on the issue of Home Affairs. Zanu PF was arguing that it should get the ministry while MDC-T was also arguing that they should get the ministry.

"On Tuesday Arthur Mutambara proposed that the ministry be rotated between Zanu PF and MDC-T on a six-month basis with Zanu PF getting it first."

After the parties slept on the proposal, he said, it was felt that it would be unworkable as it would destabilising.

He added that the matter had been referred to SADC “not for arbitration but rather for facilitation."

Arthur Mutambara, leader of a smaller faction of the MDC which is also represented at the talks said: “Of the 31 ministries, 29 were discussed and agreed upon. Only the ministries of Finance and Home Affairs remained. It was then agreed that the Ministry of Finance go to MDC-T.

"Two formulas were proposed to deal with the issue of the Ministry of Home Affairs. One was that it be shared by both Zanu PF and MDC-T as co-ministers and the other was that it be rotated every six months between the two.

"Today we looked at the two proposals. MDC-T said that it preferred the rotational formula and said they wanted to go first and then they would be prepared to accept the Ministry of Finance.”

When a deal appeared imminent, Mutambara said it suddenly collapsed.

He added: "We then saw some people trying to reopen debate on issues that had already been agreed on and settled and this is a travesty of justice.”

But Tsvangirai said the rivals remained far apart on several issues, most importantly the distribution of powerful cabinet posts.

"Regrettably, after four days of intense negotiations, we have failed to agree on the... key issue, which is the equitable allocation of ministerial posts and the composition of cabinet," Tsvangirai said.

"We believe that for an inclusive government to work, the principles of equitable sharing of power... should be embraced. It appears we are far apart on this principle.”

He said that both sides had agreed to discuss the impasse with SADC's security body, known as the Troika.

"Hopefully there will be a breakthrough next week," Tsvangirai added.
Mbeki said he remained confident that a deal would be reached.

"I know for a fact that the Troika is very very keen that this matter is resolved as a matter of urgency," Mbeki said before returning to South Africa.

Under the power-sharing deal, 84-year-old Mugabe was to remain as president while Tsvangirai takes the new post of prime minister.

Tsvangirai threatened to pull out of the deal after Mugabe announced last weekend that he would award key ministries to his own party, giving him a firm grip on the security forces.

Mbeki flew to Harare in the hope of saving the accord, which he brokered just days before his own party forced him to resign as South Africa's president.

Analysts had suggested that his reduced stature as a former head of state would complicate his mediation effort, and Zimbabwe state media claimed Tsvangirai was taking instructions from western powers to frustrate Mbeki and move the process from his control.

The United States and the European Union have already threatened to toughen their sanctions on Mugabe's regime if the unity accord falls apart.

Western countries insist that any deal must respect the outcome of the first round of presidential voting in March, when Tsvangirai handed Mugabe his first electoral defeat since independence from Britain in 1980.

The former union leader failed to win enough votes to declare outright victory and then pulled out of the run-off in June, accusing the regime of coordinating a brutal campaign of political violence that left more than 100 of his supporters dead.

The political stalemate has shattered the dreams of ordinary Zimbabweans, who had briefly dared to believe last month that a unity government might be able to rebuild their devastated economy.

Zimbabweans endure daily struggles for survival in a country buckling under the world's highest inflation rate, at 231 million percent.

Once one of Africa's most prosperous nations, Zimbabwe's stunning economic collapse has caused critical food shortages, with nearly half its people needing UN aid and 80 percent of the population living in poverty. - Staff Reporter/AFP
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