JOHANNESBURG (AFP) — Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe would have amnesty from prosecution and a ceremonial role in government under a draft settlement to resolve the country's crisis, a newspaper reported Wednesday.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai would run the country as executive prime minister The Star reported, saying it had obtained a copy of the draft.
Tsvangirai would appoint two deputies, including one from his own party and another from Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF, the newspaper added.
The transitional government would be in place temporarily and lead to fresh elections, said the paper.
Mugabe would remain president, but with diminished powers, and would be honoured as "founding president" upon his retirement after the transitional government ends. The timeframe for the transitional government was still being debated, it added.
It also reported that South African President Thabo Mbeki, mediator for the Zimbabwe talks, would facilitate a face-to-face meeting on the draft between Tsvangirai and Mugabe in Harare on Thursday.
Mbeki spokesman Mukoni Ratshitanga could not confirm whether the South African leader would travel to Harare, saying only that the Zimbabwe power-sharing talks that had been taking place near Pretoria were ongoing.
Officials from both Zimbabwe's government and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) could not immediately be reached for comment.
The report came as UN troubleshooter Haile Menkerios flew back to South Africa to monitor the talks, UN spokeswoman Michele Montas said.
Menkerios, a UN assistant secretary general for political affairs, was first heading to Pretoria for consultations on the mediation process, Montas told reporters. But she also planned to visit Zimbabwe before returning to New York this weekend.
Zimbabwe's political crisis intensified after a one-man election in June that handed Mugabe a sixth term as president.
Tsvangirai, who had finished ahead of Mugabe in the March first round of the vote, pulled out of the June run-off days ahead of the poll, citing rising violence against his supporters.
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