Mugabe: Deal expected soon

2008-09-04 10:04

Harare - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said a deal in power-sharing talks is expected this week, state radio reported on Thursday, a day after the opposition chief said negotiations had deadlocked.

The radio also reported that South African President Thabo Mbeki, the mediator in the talks, was expected in Zimbabwe on Thursday as part of the negotiations, but his spokesperson denied the report.

"The president is not going to Zimbabwe," Mbeki spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga said, adding however that the power-sharing talks were continuing.

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said on Wednesday that the talks were deadlocked over Mugabe's desire to retain control of the country's security forces.

Fragment the cabinet

A power-sharing deal put forward under Mbeki proposed that Tsvangirai become prime minister and Mugabe retain the presidency in an inclusive government.

"But in this case," Tsvangirai told South African radio, "there was an attempt to fragment the cabinet, with some ministers reporting to the president and some ministers reporting to the prime minister."

The deal would have seen economic and social ministries report to the prime minister and security ministries answering to the president, including the army and police which Tsvangirai said Mugabe had used to "brutalise" people.

Zimbabwe's crisis intensified after Mugabe's re-election in a widely condemned June presidential run-off in which he was the only candidate.

Tsvangirai boycotted the election despite finishing ahead of Mugabe in the March first round, citing rising violence against his supporters.

- AFP