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

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

BOYCOTT: Tsvangirai boycotted a meeting with Mugabe last Saturday, which was attended by Mutambara

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By Lebo Nkatazo

NEGOTIATORS from Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) were meeting in South Africa for the first time since the disputed June 27 presidential election run-off in the latest push to find a breakthrough to a festering political crisis.

Representatives from the two MDC factions met Thursday with negotiators from Zanu PF and their South African facilitators just as the United States and Britain prepared to push through a resolution imposing sanctions on Zimbabwe.

Professor Welshman Ncube, secretary general of the MDC faction led by Arthur Mutambara confirmed by telephone that they were locked in talks, but declined to discuss details.

“Everyone who has been involved in this process from the start is here. We will see how it goes and of course we remain committed to finding a political breakthrough, not least because our country has been unnecessarily exposed to unnecessary dangers. We should all shoulder responsibility, and collectively work to find solutions,” said Ncube, who broke from the meeting to talk to this website.

On Wednesday, the High Court relaxed bail conditions for Tendai Biti, the secretary general of the MDC faction led by Tsvangirai to enable him to attend the talks. He was handed back his passport and a requirement for him to report twice a week to the police lifted. He faces treason charges.

The resumption of the talks will throw spanners into the works for the US and Britain who were keen to convince other major powers that President Thabo Mbeki’s mediation effort was failing, and sanctions are now the only route remaining to force President Mugabe to change course.

Acutely aware of the significance of the two sides meeting after President Mbeki’s failed bid last Saturday to get Tsvangirai, Mutambara and Mugabe to meet, Mbeki’s office released a brief statement to the world media, confirming: “Talks are happening.”

But still, Tsvangirai’s spokesman George Sibotshiwe came out to deny any talks were underway. “The MDC is not in talks with anybody,” he claimed in Johannesburg. “We will not take part until our conditions are met” including a cessation of violence.

Sources in the Tsvangirai-led MDC say there have been growing tensions in the party’s leadership, with a powerful group of hardliners insisting on delaying the talks until the United Nations Security Council votes on sanctions, which include an arms embargo.

This group, sources say, was behind Tsvangirai’s last minute refusal to meet with Mugabe and Mbeki on Saturday last week as that would have scuppered British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s push to get the Group of 8 leaders meeting in Japan to reject Mugabe’s controversial re-election.

But there are others who say delaying the talks is futile as Tsvangirai will, sooner or later, have to meet Mugabe.

China and Russia, who have a veto power, are now more than likely going to block any resolution imposing sanctions on Zimbabwe based on the resumption of talks between Zanu PF and the MDC -- the course favoured by the two countries.
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