Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said on Saturday he hoped a power-sharing deal would work but that there was a problem of trust between him and President Robert Mugabe.
”There’s nothing wrong with deal, that’s why we signed. It’s only when it came to implementation that we ran into problems,” he told thousands of supporters at a rally.
Mugabe and Tsvangirai failed again to reach agreement on forming a Cabinet after four days of talks mediated by former South African president Thabo Mbeki which ended on Friday.
”The past four days have been a dialogue of the deaf,” he said.
”It was one-man monologue. Mugabe does not negotiate. He just says ‘No.’ He was saying ‘No’ since Monday. We had to tell Mbeki it was no use continuing with negotiations with someone who does not want to
negotiate,” said Tsvangirai.
Officials from regional grouping SADC will meet in Swaziland on Monday to try to help the rival parties end the deadlock.
Tsvangirai said even if a breakthrough was reached, it would be difficult to ease suspicions between him and Mugabe, in power since 1980.
”When we return from Mbabane and if we get to form the government we will, from the start, have a problem of trust,” said Tsvangirai.
Tsvangirai threatened to pull out of talks on Sunday after Mugabe allocated powerful ministries such as defence, finance and home affairs to his own party.
The power-sharing deal is seen as Zimbabwe’s best hope for rescuing an economy where fuel and food are scarce and inflation stands at 231-million percent, the world’s highest. – AFP, Reuters