Delay in Zim crisis talks

2008-07-23 11:34

Harare - Full-scale talks aimed at resolving Zimbabwe's months-long political crisis are not expected to begin in neighbouring South Africa until Thursday, according to a report in state media.

Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, chief negotiator for President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party, told the Herald newspaper it had been agreed with the opposition to begin the talks only when all the delegates were in place.

"All parties to the dialogue agreed that talks should begin on Thursday," Chinamasa told the daily.

The talks had initially been due to begin on Tuesday but Chinamasa said that all the delegates should now arrive in South Africa by the end of Wednesday and would then "travel to the venue for the talks, wherever that would be".

Chinamasa and Zanu-PF's other senior negotiator Nicholas Goche stayed in Harare on Tuesday to attend a cabinet meeting while opposition officials also delayed their travel plans.

A source in the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said its top negotiator Tendai Biti had flown out of Harare on Wednesday but it was not known whether the party's Bulawayo-based chairperson Lovemore Moyo had left.

Pretoria

Mugabe, main MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, head of a breakaway opposition faction, penned a memorandum of understanding on Monday to pave the way for fully-fledged talks.

Although the venue of the talks has been kept under wraps, the negotiations are expected to take place in the capital Pretoria.

The rivals have set themselves a tight two-week timeline to wrap up the talks aimed at agreeing on the line-up of a new government after disputed elections.

Already going through economic turmoil, Zimbabwe's crisis deepened when Mugabe was re-elected in a one-man run-off last month after Tsvangirai pulled out, citing a campaign of intimidation and violence against his supporters that had killed dozens and injured thousands.

The vote was widely condemned in the West as a sham, with the European Union warning that it would not deal with a government unless headed by Tsvangirai.

- AFP