Oct 12, 2008, 14:43 GMT
Harare/Johannesburg - Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Sunday warned he would withdraw from talks on political power-sharing if mediation failed to break a month-long deadlock.
Zimbabwe's prime minister designate and leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Morgan Tsvangirai addresses a press conference in Harare, Zimbabwe, 27 September 2008. EPA/STR
'If this mediation fails, we will say, 'this marriage has failed to be consummated, and we cannot force things,'' Tsvangirai said at an MDC rally in the capital Harare.
'There will be no option but to go our separate ways,' he told his supporters.
Tsvangirai added, however, that 'as long as there is an opportunity, we will continue to negotiate until we reach an agreement.'
Attempts to settle Zimbabwe's political crisis appeared to be shattered Saturday after President Robert Mugabe allocated all the incoming power-sharing government's critical cabinet portfolios to his Zanu-PF party.
The move was denounced immediately as 'unilateral' by the MDC with which the authoritarian Mugabe has been deadlocked over cabinet posts for nearly a month in the wake of the signing of a power-sharing deal on September 15.
On Friday, Mugabe, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, head of a small offshoot of the MDC, again failed to agree on the portfolios.
Neighbouring South Africa's former president Thabo Mbeki, the mediator in power-sharing talks between the three, was due to travel to Zimbabwe on Monday.
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