Zimbabwe talks to stretch beyond deadline: SAfrica
Zimbabwe’s rival parties were likely to miss Monday’s deadline to conclude power-sharing talks, a South African official said, as the two sides met for negotiations over the country’s crisis.
Discussions would likely stretch several days beyond the two-week deadline set by Zimbabwe’s ruling party and opposition, said Mukoni Ratshitanga, spokesman for South African President Thabo Mbeki, who has mediated the talks.
“The talks were on today (Monday) after they resumed on Sunday,” he said.
“We should take note of the fact that the parties took five days off last week to discuss with their principals. So, logically there is no way they will meet their original deadline if you take that into consideration.”
Talks resumed in a secret location in South Africa on Sunday after a nearly week-long pause to allow negotiators to return home and consult with their leaders.
The discussions broke up Tuesday amid suggestions from the opposition that the two sides were deadlocked in their bid to resolve the crisis that intensified after President Robert Mugabe’s one-man election in June.
Mugabe, opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai and the head of an MDC splinter branch, Arthur Mutambara, agreed on July 21 to a framework for negotiations, including the two-week deadline.
Tsvangirai has also signaled the talks would extend beyond Monday, saying last week the timeframe was “not inflexible”.
Mbeki, who has faced heavy criticism in the past over accusations of treating the Zimbabwe president with kid gloves, flew to Harare for talks with Mugabe after the adjournment last week and also met Tsvangirai in Pretoria.
The Star newspaper in South Africa reported Monday that Mbeki was to return to Zimbabwe for meetings with the two leaders this week, but Ratshitanga said he was not aware of it.
Tsvangirai finished ahead of Mugabe in the March first round of the presidential election, but boycotted the run-off, citing rising violence against his supporters that left dozens dead and thousands injured.
He announced his withdrawal five days ahead of the June 27 poll, and Mugabe pushed ahead with the vote despite widespread calls to postpone it, handing himself a sixth term as president.
Tsvangirai believes his first-round total gives him the right to the lion’s share of power, but sources in his party said recently Mugabe’s negotiators had so far only offered him one of several vice presidential posts.