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Zimbabwe crisis talks resume
03/08/2008 15:32 - (SA)
Johannesburg - Zimbabwe's rival parties resumed power-sharing talks on Sunday, a day ahead of the expiry of a deadline to conclude discussions to end a ruinous political crisis.
After a nearly week-long break following suggestions the talks were deadlocked, negotiators met again in South Africa to resolve the crisis, which intensified after President Robert Mugabe's controversial re-election.
"The talks have started. They started this afternoon," said Mukoni Ratshitanga, spokesperson for South African President Thabo Mbeki, who has been mediating the discussions that have been held in a secret location.
A spokesperson for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Tapiwa Mashakada, confirmed the party's negotiators had returned to Pretoria for Sunday's meeting.
Officials from the ruling Zanu-PF party could not be reached, but Zimbabwe's state-run Sunday Mail quoted an anonymous source saying representatives for both sides had arrived in the South African capital. Talks with Mbeki
The talks had broken up on Tuesday as negotiators flew home to consult with their leaders amid suggestions by the MDC that discussions on power sharing between Mugabe and rival Morgan Tsvangirai were deadlocked.
Mbeki flew to Harare for talks with Mugabe after the adjournment and also met Tsvangirai in Pretoria.
The South African leader, who has faced heavy criticism in the past over accusations of treating Mugabe with kid gloves, said in Harare that the talks were "progressing".
There have since been signs that the two-week deadline set out in a July 21 deal laying the framework for discussions would not be met, with Tsvangirai saying last week that the timeframe was "not inflexible".
Ratshitanga said Sunday the deadline should apply only to the number of days spent negotiating.
"That two weeks has got to be looked at from the point of view that they did take a four- or five-day break to go and consult," he said.
- AFP
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Zimbabwe Special Report
