Conflicting stories on Zim talks
2008-08-12 07:40
Special Report
Four Chinese men face deportation from Zimbabwe after they were arrested for killing more than 40 tortoises for meat, a report says.
A dusty road leads to the village of Wedza, where veterans of Zimbabwe's liberation war eke out a meagre living on their farm cooperative, which after a promising start now brings only despair.
Harare - Crucial talks between Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on sharing power were adjourned for a second time on Monday night without any sign of an agreement.
On leaving a second session of talks mediated by South African President Thabo Mbeki in a city-centre hotel, Mugabe said the main hurdles had been "overcome".
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But a source in Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) told a different story - that the two leaders had not yet agreed how to divvy up power.
"We will meet tomorrow and finish," Mugabe said. But Tsvangirai gave no such assurances, saying only the talks had been adjourned until Tuesday and that the media would be advised on progress made.
Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, leader of a breakaway faction of Tsvangirai's MDC had just resumed talks four hours earlier, after a first 14-hour session ended in the early hours of Monday.
Zimbabweans are hoping a negotiated settlement will end the country's nearly decade-long political and economic crisis.
Sources from both Zanu-PF and the MDC say Tsvangirai is poised to become prime minister, but it is still not clear how much power Mugabe is prepared to devolve to him.
'There was a time I'd feel like raising my fist'
Addressing a rally earlier in Harare on Heroes' Day - a holiday commemorating Zimbabwe's fallen freedom fighters - Mugabe talked enthusiastically of "a new dispensation" while issuing his stock warning against Zimbabwe's "enemies" trying to reverse his notorious land redistribution programme.
Giving an insight into the atmosphere of the talks, Mugabe, 84, admitted: "There was a time I'd feel like raising my fist."
"All of us would lose patience" he said, praising Mbeki for not following suit.
Mbeki arrived in Harare on Saturday to try to clinch an agreement between the leaders on a deal after nearly two weeks of talks between Mugabe's Zanu-PF and the two MDC factions.
His visit had sparked speculation that a deal was near, but the final prize has proved elusive as the parties struggle to overcome years of emnity and distrust.
Since the talks began Mugabe has noticeably tempered his criticism of Tsvangirai, whom he previously dismissed as a Western "puppet".
Speaking about the MDC the authoritarian leader told his supporters at Monday's rally: "After a fight, the family sits down. That's where we are."
'I'm hopeful...'
Eustina Mafuwa, a 36-year-old teacher decked out in Zanu-PF regalia for Heroes' Day, said she had spent the previous night with her ear glued to the radio in case of a breakthrough.
"I'm hopeful they'll immediately start working together and address the economy," she said.
Matthew Dube, a 31-year-old black-market foreign currency dealer whose business is at risk in the event of an economic turnaround, said he doubted a "GNU" (government of national unity) between the longtime foes would work.
"If that happens it will not be anytime soon. By then I'll be rich or finished my auto electrician course."
Analysts say the dire state of the economy, as characterised by inflation of over two million percent and critical food shortages, are what ultimately convinced Zimbabwe's leader of 28 years to agree to share power.
A number of Western countries have promised increased aid and investment if Tsvangirai and the MDC lead the next government.
Mugabe has also found himself increasingly isolated after several African countries and the West refused to recognise his victory in June presidential elections.
Mugabe contested the run-off election alone, after Tsvangirai, who won the first round of the election in March, withdrew over a campaign of state-backed attacks on his supporters that killed more than 120 people. - Sapa-dpa
- SAPA