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.
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