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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Zimbabwe: Talks Delayed |
| 2008-07-25 |
| Zimbabwean crisis talks due to start in South Africa struggled to get off the ground on Tuesday as chief negotiators had yet to leave Harare, sources from the opposition and ruling party said. Representatives of the ruling Zanu PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) were meant to begin negotiations towards resolving the country's political crisis after the signing of a historic pact on Monday. As representatives from both parties remained tied up in Zimbabwe, the European Union sought to tighten the screw on veteran President Robert Mugabe's regime by stepping up sanctions on Tuesday. The long-awaited Pretoria talks, given a tight two week timeline, were now expected to begin "in earnest" on Thursday, said Mbeki's spokesman Mukoni Ratshitanga. Zimbabwean government sources said that Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa and Labour Minister Nicholas Goche - the chief negotiators for the ruling Zanu PF party - had been locked in a cabinet meeting all afternoon and were not now expected to fly until Wednesday morning. Meanwhile a source in the larger faction of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said its top negotiators, party chairman Lovemore Moyo and secretary-general Tendai Biti, had also yet to leave. However a source in the smaller faction of the MDC, which is also taking part in the talks in Pretoria, said its representative had already arrived in South Africa. Both sides agreed in their memorandum of understanding inked in Harare to observe a media blackout during the course of negotiations that are expected to conclude within a fortnight. While commentators have warned significant obstacles remain in the path towards forming "an inclusive government", both Tsvangirai and Mugabe tried on Monday to draw a line under a crisis sparked by disputed elections in March. At a ceremony in Harare overseen by chief mediator and South African President Thabo Mbeki, Mugabe and Tsvangirai shook hands in their first meeting since the opposition leader formed the MDC in 1999 - albeit with few signs of warmth. |
| Posted by:Pappy |
| #1 MDC, disappear for a month & leave Zanu-PF to talk to themselves. At the rate Mugabe's going, his unpaid thugs are going to mutiny. |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2008-07-25 11:39 |