President Robert Mugabe’s ruling Zanu-PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) will on Thursday begin preliminary talks in South Africa on ending Zimbabwe’s political crisis, an opposition source said.
Both sides have been under heavy international pressure to enter negotiations since Mugabe’s widely condemned re-election in a June 27 poll scarred by campaign violence.
The MDC opposition, which boycotted the election because of violence that it said killed 103 of its supporters, had until now refused to enter talks.
It said negotiations could not resume until the violence ended and Mugabe accepted the result of the first round of the election in March, which was won by MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
The MDC source said preliminary talks starting on Thursday would discuss ending the violence.
”Our team is in South Africa, where they will have preliminary talks with Zanu-PF, starting today [Thursday]. It means something is happening. So these are not the actual talks, but preliminary discussions on what the talks will focus on,” the source said.
”This is where we are going to talk about issues of violence and it is from these discussions that the MDC will decide whether to engage in full negotiations if our conditions for an end to political violence are met. We will also have to agree on the agenda for the talks.”
Diplomatic sources in Pretoria also said the two sides had agreed to talks, which have previously been mediated by South Africa as the designated regional negotiator.
Crisis
The violent June 27 election and its condemned outcome have worsened the crisis in Zimbabwe, whose economy has collapsed, sending millions of refugees into neighbouring states and increasing pressure for a solution.
The African Union, at a summit last month, called for talks leading to a national unity government.
Tsvangirai defeated Mugabe in a March 29 first-round presidential poll but fell short of the absolute majority required to avoid a run-off. The MDC leader pulled out six days ahead of the second round because of the violent campaign against his supporters.
Mugabe blames the opposition for the bloodshed.
Western nations, led by former colonial ruler Britain and the United States, are pushing the United Nations Security Council this week to impose sanctions on Mugabe’s inner circle
South African President Thabo Mbeki has mediated unsuccessfully in the Zimbabwean crisis for more than a year, drawing increasing criticism. The MDC says he favours Mugabe and has called for expanded mediation.
Propaganda lie
Meanwhile, the MDC on Thursday denied suggestions that some of its supporters were undergoing training to engage in retaliatory violence.
”This is a propaganda lie,” said MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa in response to a Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) report.
”We have always been insecure, but we have never resorted to violence. Anybody who decides that would not be a member of the party.”
Earlier, Kwandiwe Kondlo, executive director of the HSRC’s democracy and governance research programme, said at the release of the report in Johannesburg: ”We do know almost certainly that some of them [MDC supporters] have begun training.”
He continued: ”This is not an official policy from MDC, but it is simply hell going loose.”
He said the ”culture of violence that comes from Zanu-PF is gradually becoming part of the culture in the MDC”.
Kondlo said research indicated the emergence of ”democratic resistance committees” who had acquired some form of training.
”I don’t want to be quoted as saying the MDC is preparing for war … The MDC is feeling very insecure.”
The report, ”Saving Zimbabwe — an agenda for democratic peace”, says the MDC used the violence by Zanu-PF against MDC supporters to ”win the hearts and minds of regional and international players”.
The claims of retaliatory violence, according to the report, emanate from Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri and an article in Zimbabwe’s Sunday Mail, which reported a ”new strategy of resistance” in the MDC.
Chamisa said that these claims came from a ”poisoned chalice” and were meant to justify a crackdown on the MDC.
”The commissioner is part of the Zanu-PF top echelon, the Sunday Mail writes for Zanu-PF — it’s a Zanu-PF mouthpiece,” he said. — Reuters, Sapa