| Just channeling his inner thug ... |
"We are a government, and we are a government that is empowered by elections," The Herald, a governing party mouthpiece, quoted Mugabe as telling reporters Wednesday when he was in Zambia for the funeral of Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa. "So we should form a Cabinet. We will not allow a situation where we will not have a Cabinet forever.
"If after tomorrow (opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai) does not want to sign, we will certainly put together a Cabinet. We feel frozen at the moment."
Tendai Biti, Tsvangirai's chief negotiator in the power-sharing talks, said Thursday the Herald story was the only word the opposition Movement for Democratic Change had had of any plans by Mugabe to unilaterally name a Cabinet. That raised the possibility the Herald story was an attempt by Mugabe to pressure the opposition to try to break a deadlock in the talks.
Biti said the talks were stalled, but would not elaborate on what was preventing agreement. "We remain committed to these talks. We want these talks to succeed," Biti said in a telephone interview.
Biti said that if Mugabe formed a Cabinet on his own, it would be "the final nail into the carcass of this dialogue." He said Mugabe could not negotiate "while holding a gun to our head."