Efforts to agree on a framework for talks aimed at ending Zimbabwe's political crisis stalled yesterday as state media accused the opposition leader of pulling out of a deal at the last moment.
Government sources quoted in the state-run Herald daily said representatives of the ruling ZANU-PF and two factions of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) had reached an agreement on Wednesday that would have allowed substantive talks between the two sides to begin under South African mediation.
But the paper said that MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai had declined to sign up to the agreement after a discussion with African Union Commission Chairman Jean Ping, who is due in the region later this week.
“It was agreed that the MoU [memorandum of understanding] was to be signed in Harare on Wednesday by the three principals and that commitment was conveyed to the facilitator,” the Herald quoted an unnamed official as saying. “On Wednesday morning, Tsvangirai indicated that he was not going to attend because he had received instructions from Jean Ping not to sign the MoU.”
In comments to the Star newspaper in Johannesburg, Tsvangirai confirmed he had not yet put his signature to an agreement but wanted to wait until Ping holds talks with South African President Thabo Mbeki in Pretoria today.
“It is not that we are refusing to sign, but that the processes need to be tightened,” he said.
According to sources on both sides, the framework agreement sets out the agenda for the talks and includes calls for an immediate cessation of violence, one of the key demands of the MDC.
Tsvangirai has been pushing for greater involvement from the African Union, having deemed that Mbeki is biased towards ZANU-PF and Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.
Tsvangirai won in the presidential election against Mugabe in March, although he fell just short of an absolute majority. He pulled out of a run-off election last month.
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