Harare - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and pro-
democracy leader Morgan Tsvangirai failed to break the deadlock in
power-sharing talks Saturday, with no movement on the allocation of
ministerial portfolios, sources close to the talks said.
However, former South African president Thabo Mbeki, the mediator
in the negotiations that began in earnest in late July, was expected
in Harare on Monday to try and break the impasse, said the source,
requesting anonymity.
'There is no agreement,' he said after Mugabe and Tsvangirai, as
well as Arthur Mutambara, the leader of the lesser faction of
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), had met in State
House, the official presidential office, for two hours Saturday
afternoon.
'Mbeki should be here on Monday, and we expect that negotiations
will resume on Monday under Mbeki.' Mbeki has the mandate of leaders
from the southern African region as mediator.
A power-sharing agreement setting up a new transitional
'inclusive' government has been stalled since the document was signed
on September 15, as the 84-year-old autocrat Mugabe and Tsvangirai
were deadlocked over the allocation of key ministries.
Analysts say the country has been without a government since
August 25 when MPs - elected in March - in the parliament now
dominated by the MDC, were finally sworn in.
Sources said the MDC was willing to concede the defence and state
security ministries to Mugabe's Zanu-PF party, but was insisting on
getting the ministries of home affairs, which includes the police,
and finance.
The meeting Saturday was the second fruitless meeting between the
three this week. MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said Mugabe wanted 'all
the important ministries.'
The agreement provides for a total of 31 ministries, 15 of them
for Zanu-PF, 13 for the Tsvangirai's MDC and three for Mutambara's
faction. The two MDC factions are expected to form an alliance to
present a majority in the cabinet.
'What is becoming very clear is that these negotiations need to be
mediated,' the source said. 'If there is going to be any movement,
it can only happen after Mbeki's intervention. Otherwise we will go
on having meetings where the same positions are restated.'
However, Zanu-PF has opposed Mbeki's involvement in the issue of
the cabinet. 'I don't think that the allocation of ministries is a
matter that can be referred to the facilitator. We cannot, at the
slightest difference of opinion, call outsiders to mediate.'
Zanu-PF sources say a clique of party leaders, alarmed at the
imminent loss of patronage and influence they have enjoyed for the
last nearly 29 years, have dug in their heels and are trying to force
Mugabe to concede no more than he already has.
While the deadlock drags on, the country's humanitarian and
economic crisis continues to worsen daily, with inflation surging
through tens of million per cent, while ordinary people queue
sometimes for days for cash at banks, and there is little or no stock
in shops.
Aid agencies report widespread starvation in rural areas.
'There just is no food, or the little there is is too expensive,'
said a commentary Saturday on the website of Zimbabwe's Catholic
Jesuit order.
'The country is not functioning. Our leaders do not even see our
national or local needs. They could not care less. They spend their
wrangling over ministerial appointments. Like useless workers, they
might as well be sacked.'
USA
Your Talkback on this Story