The Zimbabwe opposition has declared power-sharing talks with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe are deadlocked, but it has said it hopes the South African mediator can make progress.
Main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai walked out after hours of talks on Thursday, directing reporters questions to his spokesman, Nelson Chamisa.
“We have reached a deadlock on all issues,” Chamisa said, saying at least 10 Cabinet posts remained in dispute.
PHOTO: EPA
He said they included the powerful ministries in charge of finance, police and the army — Mugabe is accused of using the latter two institutions to crush dissent.
Chamisa also said the factions could not agree on how to allot some governorships.
Chamisa said his faction hoped the mediator, former South African president Thabo Mbeki, could make headway.
Mugabe, who left about 45 minutes after Tsvangirai, did not refer to a deadlock, but told reporters differences remained and that talks would continue yesterday.
The opposition “has got their position, we have got our own position,” Mugabe said. “We’re always defending our position.”
The opposition has repeatedly accused Mugabe of trying to hold onto to too many key posts in the 31-member Cabinet agreed to in a Sept. 15 power-sharing deal. Under the deal, Mugabe’s party was to have 15 Cabinet posts, Tsvangirai’s 13 and the minor opposition faction led by Arthur Mutumbara three.
Without a political agreement, Zimbabwe has been rudderless as its economy collapses, and there were growing signs of impatience among ordinary Zimbabweans. Protesters gathered in the southern city of Bulawayo and outside the Harare hotel where negotiators met on Thursday, calling on the politicians to put their difference aside and begin addressing such issues as inflation, which is 231 million percent; shortages of food, medicine and most other basic goods; and growing hunger.
Politicians and generals who have long depended on Mugabe’s patronage are believed to be balking at losing their jobs.
Tsvangirai, too, is under pressure. The international community is unlikely to unlock much-needed aid and investment if Tsvangirai is seen as giving up too much, and his supporters at home already are worried he erred fatally by allowing Mugabe to retain any power.
Earlier on Thursday, the Herald quoted an unidentified official from Mugabe’s ruling party as saying compromises could be made in a Cabinet lineup Mugabe unilaterally announced last week. Mugabe had claimed the most powerful Cabinet posts for his own party, including the police ministry.
The optimism was dampened by later reports that Mugabe was only willing to share key posts, possibly by creating a system in which the same post would be rotated among politicians from the three parties.
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