Mugabe go-it-alone threat hangs over renewed talks in South Africa

Aug 29, 2008, 9:31 GMT

Zimbabwe\'s President Robert Mugabe inspects the guard of honour at the opening of the Zimbabwe Parliament, Harare, Zimbabwe, 26 August 2008. EPA/STR

Johannesburg - Negotiators from Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF and Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) resumed talks on a power-sharing government in South Africa on Friday, a South African official confirmed.

Foreign affairs spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa told SAPA news agency the talks between Zanu-PF and the two MDCs - one led by Tsvangirai and another smaller faction led by Arthur Mutambara - had resumed more than two weeks after they reached deadlock.

Mamoepa would not say whether South African President Thabo Mbeki would be meeting with the parties' negotiators, or whether he was leaving this round of mediation to his representatives.

The new talks follow threats by Mugabe this week to form a government without Tsvangirai, despite Tsvangirai's MDC having a majority in parliament.

Tsvangirai's faction has said such a move would mean the death of the talks. Mutambara's faction has also said it is opposed to forming a government without Tsvangirai. The document setting out the ground rules for the talks also stipulates that no party should form a government, save by consensus.

Mugabe revealed his plans to defy the African Union's calls for a powersharing government in Zimbabwe on Tuesday after being humiliated by heckling MDC deputies when he officially opened parliament.

The MDC had opposed the act because it does not recognize Mugabe as president.

Zimbabweans are counting on a negotiated settlement to end nearly a decade of hardship and political repression under an increasingly autocratic Mugabe, 84.

Talks between the three parties ground to a halt in Harare earlier this month when Tsvangirai, 56, baulked at a draft deal that would seen Mugabe retain much of his powers.

Tsvangirai took the most votes in the last credible presidential election on March 29. Mugabe won the second round of voting on June 27, but only after Tsvangirai withdrew over a spate of killings of MDC supporters by Mugabe supporters.