Zimbabwe’s political rivals held marathon power-sharing talks before breaking in the early hours yesterday, with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe saying he was “confident” a deal was within reach.
South African President Thabo Mbeki mediated the talks at a Harare hotel that stretched a full day amid signs the rivals had closed in on an agreement to end the country’s protracted political crisis.
Mugabe, opposition Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, the head of a smaller MDC faction, had been at the hotel more than 13 hours before the talks finally broke up.
“We’re not through yet, but we’ve taken a break,” Mugabe said as he left the talks, adding meetings were to resume later yesterday.
Asked if there were sticking points, Mugabe answered: “There are always sticking points in any dialogue, but we are confident we will overcome.”
Tsvangirai left the hotel shortly afterward, saying Mbeki would “give a press statement on the issue” and refused further comment.
Mutambara said only that “the talks are still in progress” as he exited.
The talks are to resume following a ceremony yesterday in honor of Zimbabwe’s Heroes’ Day, held in memory of those who died in the country’s liberation war, said Labour Minister Nicholas Goche, a negotiator for the ruling party.
Mutambara spokesman Edwin Mushoriwa said that Mbeki had first met all three individually before bringing them in together.
On Sunday, bouquets of flowers and chairs were brought into the same ballroom at the hotel where on July 21 the rivals signed a deal laying the framework for power-sharing negotiations. But the day passed without word of when or if a ceremony was planned.
MDC No. 2 Tendai Biti, the party’s chief negotiator, briefly spoke to reporters as he left the Rainbow Towers hotel on Sunday, nodding yes when asked if any progress had been made.
“I think we all need to pray,” he said.
Mbeki, the mediator for the Zimbabwe talks, arrived in Harare late on Saturday after more than two weeks of negotiations in South Africa in a bid to reach a power-sharing deal following Mugabe’s widely condemned re-election.
PRECARIOUS RELATIONS: Commentators in Saudi Arabia accuse the UAE of growing too bold, backing forces at odds with Saudi interests in various conflicts A Saudi Arabian media campaign targeting the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has deepened the Gulf’s worst row in years, stoking fears of a damaging fall-out in the financial heart of the Middle East. Fiery accusations of rights abuses and betrayal have circulated for weeks in state-run and social media after a brief conflict in Yemen, where Saudi airstrikes quelled an offensive by UAE-backed separatists. The United Arab Emirates is “investing in chaos and supporting secessionists” from Libya to Yemen and the Horn of Africa, Saudi Arabia’s al-Ekhbariya TV charged in a report this week. Such invective has been unheard of
US President Donald Trump on Saturday warned Canada that if it concludes a trade deal with China, he would impose a 100 percent tariff on all goods coming over the border. Relations between the US and its northern neighbor have been rocky since Trump returned to the White House a year ago, with spats over trade and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney decrying a “rupture” in the US-led global order. During a visit to Beijing earlier this month, Carney hailed a “new strategic partnership” with China that resulted in a “preliminary, but landmark trade agreement” to reduce tariffs — but
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) purge of his most senior general is driven by his effort to both secure “total control” of his military and root out corruption, US Ambassador to China David Perdue said told Bloomberg Television yesterday. The probe into Zhang Youxia (張又俠), Xi’s second-in-command, announced over the weekend, is a “major development,” Perdue said, citing the family connections the vice chair of China’s apex military commission has with Xi. Chinese authorities said Zhang was being investigated for suspected serious discipline and law violations, without disclosing further details. “I take him at his word that there’s a corruption effort under
China executed 11 people linked to Myanmar criminal gangs, including “key members” of telecom scam operations, state media reported yesterday, as Beijing toughens its response to the sprawling, transnational industry. Fraud compounds where scammers lure Internet users into fake romantic relationships and cryptocurrency investments have flourished across Southeast Asia, including in Myanmar. Initially largely targeting Chinese speakers, the criminal groups behind the compounds have expanded operations into multiple languages to steal from victims around the world. Those conducting the scams are sometimes willing con artists, and other times trafficked foreign nationals forced to work. In the past few years, Beijing has stepped up cooperation
RSS