Harare | Wednesday
ZIMBABWE’S opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said on Tuesday it would hold low-level talks with the ruling Zanu-PF on the future of the country in the aftermath of last month’s disputed presidential election.
The talks, due to begin on Wednesday, follow recommendations from the Commonwealth which last month suspended Zimbabwe for one year after President Robert Mugabe reinforced his 22-year grip on power through elections widely seen as flawed.
One of the issues expected to top the agenda is the MDC’s demand for fresh elections. It has rejected the outcome of the March 9-11 poll.
“The only way back to legitimacy is to hold fresh elections under international supervision and that is what the MDC wants,” the MDC’s secretary for economic affairs, said Eddie Cross>
He said the talks would be “facilitated” as opposed to mediated — by a Nigerian diplomat and a South African politician.
Small teams of officials from the MDC and the ruling Zimbawe African National Union Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) would meet to map out an agenda for talks between their leaders “before substantive negotiations on the way forward start”, he said.
Cross said the talks were also likely to tackle the country’s worsening food crisis.
“What the international community is saying is that there is a great deal of urgency in this situation, especially over food shortages.
“There is a high degree of urgency attached to this and if it is not solved South Africa could have a million (Zimbabwean) refugees. And (South African President Thabo) Mbeki knows it,” he said.
Mbeki and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo last month urged Mugabe and MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai to meet to seek an end to the country’s crises, especially its economic woes.
Because of the sensitivity of the discussions, Cross said they were likely to talk place behind closed doors. – AFP