Zim power-sharing talks 'going smoothly'

Power-sharing talks between Zimbabwe’s rival political parties were going smoothly on Monday, a South African official said, a week after they broke down over Robert Mugabe’s insistence he should remain president.

Mukoni Ratshitanga, spokesperson for mediator President Thabo Mbeki, said the talks resumed on Sunday and were continuing at an undisclosed location in Pretoria to try to end Zimbabwe’s political and economic crisis.

Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai have agreed to discuss sharing power although their future roles are expected to be major sticking points in the talks, coverage of which has been hit with a media blackout.

Mbeki said last week that the two sides intended to complete the talks as planned by August 4. However, Tsvangirai has said the deadline was flexible.

Ratshitanga said on Monday that negotiators were “not worried” about meeting it.

Mbeki has also played down reports of disagreements and said the negotiations were adjourned to allow the leaders of the ruling party and opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) consult their parties.

However, officials close to the talks said opposition negotiators were unhappy with the government’s insistence that Mugabe remain president with Tsvangirai serving as one of several vice-presidents.

Both men say they won elections and should be at the helm. However, there are indications that the two leaders are prepared to compromise.

Mugabe said in a televised statement last week that compromises needed to be made even if they were sometimes “difficult”.

The MDC has launched a campaign, “Let’s Talk for a Change”. An advertisement, signed by Tsvangirai and published on Sunday in an independent weekly, the Standard, thanked Mugabe for agreeing to negotiations and said it was the first step to solving the country’s problems.

Mbeki and his team of negotiators are under pressure to make a breakthrough before a summit of heads of state from the Southern African Development Community, which starts in South Africa on August 16.

The regional body mandated Mbeki to mediate in the crisis and South Africa will take over the chair of the organisation.

Zimbabwe has become an increasingly divisive issue in the region with Botswana already saying it would not recognise Mugabe if he attended the summit as a head of state.—Sapa-AP