Mugabe to form new govt

2008-08-27 11:45

Harare - Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe says he will form a new government, despite a deadlock in the country's power-sharing negotiations with the opposition, a state daily said on Wednesday.

"We shall soon be setting up a government," Mugabe was quoted as saying in the Herald newspaper following the opening of parliament on Tuesday at which he was booed and heckled by opposition lawmakers.

"The MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) does not want to come in apparently. This time they have been promised by the British that sanctions would be more devastating, that in six months' time the government will collapse."

"I do not know when that day will come. I wish (MDC leader Morgan) Tsvangirai well on that day," the 84-year-old leader added.

Cabinet criticised

Mugabe castigated his past cabinet and said he would appoint ministers who are dedicated to working for the country.

"This cabinet that I had was the worst in history," he said.

Mugabe officially opened the country's parliament on Tuesday after talks to form a power-sharing government with the two factions of the opposition MDC stalled over the sharing of executive powers.

The main MDC led by Tsvangirai had earlier said it would boycott the opening session arguing that it was in breach of talks mediated by South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki.

The opposition handed a petition to the clerk of parliament, denouncing the opening of parliament as meaningless, saying it violated a deal signed in July ahead of the power-sharing talks, which have been stalled for two weeks.

- AFP