PRETORIA (AFP) — Talks in South Africa on Zimbabwe's political crisis broke up Tuesday as negotiators flew home in a bid to resolve a deadlock over power-sharing between President Robert Mugabe and his rivals.
As negotiators headed back to Harare, South African President Thabo Mbeki, who is mediating the crisis, insisted discussions were still on track despite talk of a deadlock by Tsvangirai's opposition Movement for Democractic Change (MDC).
"They have not concluded, they will be adjourning shortly for a few days because they want to do back to Harare to go and consult with their principles about the work that is being done and then come back by the end of the week to resume the negotiations," Mbeki told reporters in Pretoria.
Earlier, the chief spokesman for Tsvangirai's MDC said the negotiations had reached an impasse.
"The talks are in a deadlock," said George Sibotshiwe.
"We cannot discuss the main issues, we can only say that they are in a deadlock and that the parties will consult with their principals," he said. "If the sticking points are resolved then the talks will resume."
Mbeki insisted at a news conference however that the talks were "going very well."
"In the memorandum of understanding they said they will try to conclude negotiations within two weeks ... ," said Mbeki.
"They are indeed very determined to keep to that commitment and so they are continuing to talk among themselves and indeed to reach agreements about various matters that are on their agenda."
The talks, which are being held at a secret location in the Pretoria area, are meant to be wrapped up within a fortnight of the signing of the initial framework agreement.
Tsvangirai flew to Johannesburg on Monday amid claims by his party that the talks had run into trouble.
Tsvangirai and 84-year-old Mugabe signed an accord on July 21 to begin talks on sharing power after a months-long election dispute.
While Tsvangirai believes his victory in the first round of a presidential election in March should give him the right to the lion's share of power, MDC sources say Mugabe's negotiators are so far only offering him the chance to become one of several vice presidents.
"They have offered Morgan the post of third vice-president and nothing else, which is obviously a position totally unacceptable to the MDC," said one source.
Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party refused to comment on the talks.
Part of the agreement signed at a landmark meeting between Mugabe and Tsvangirai on July 21 was an undertaking to respect a media blackout during the course of the talks.
The meeting was their first since Tsvangirai formed his MDC at the end of 1999.
The former trade union leader has twice been charged with treason and needed hospital treatment for head injuries last year as he was assaulted by members of the security forces ahead of an anti-government rally.
The pair's bitterness hit new heights during the course of the election run-off when Tsvangirai was detained on five separate occasions while campaigning and his number two, Tendai Biti, was arrested for treason.
The MDC leader, who had not gained enough votes to win outright in the first poll in March, subsequently pulled out of the contest after dozens of his party's supporters were killed in attacks that he blamed on pro-Mugabe thugs.
Ignoring widespread calls to shelve the ballot, Mugabe went ahead and staged the poll, winning a predictable landslide victory.
Once seen as a post-colonial success story, the former British colony's economy has been in meltdown since Mugabe began a land reform programme at the turn of the decade and annual inflation now stands at some 2.2 million percent.
Unemployment is running at around 80 percent and even basics such as bread and cooking oil are scarce in the region's former breadbasket.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
