Zimbabwe Ruling Party, Opposition, Set To Open Preliminary Talks
Sources in Pretoria confirmed the crisis talks will resume on Thursday and that the parties will look at a draft proposal for power sha
Preliminary discussions between Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party and the opposition Movementfor Democratic Change aimed at paving the way to substantive discussionsabout power sharing are expected to begin later this week in Pretoria amidintense international pressure, government and opposition sources said Wednesday. A senior governmentofficial told VOA that two days of talks involving the two groupings ofthe MDC and the ruling party will begin Thursday andconclude on Friday. The same official, speaking on condition of anonymity, saidthe ZANU-PF politiburo met on Wednesday and gave Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasaand Labor Minister Nicholas Goche a fresh mandate to negotiate on behalf of the party. The two negotiated for ZANU-PF in the South African mediated crisis talks thatdead-ended in January. Chinamasa told the state-controlled Heraldnewspaper that the talks would begin this week. The ZANU-PF politburo instructedChinamasa and Goche to seek a compromise as quickly as possible due to theintense world pressure on Harare since Mr. Mugabe claimed victoryin the June 27 run-off election though he was the only activecandidate following the withdrawal of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, and was inaugurated just two days later. Sources in Pretoria confirmed the crisis talks will resume on Thursdayand that the parties will also look at a draft proposal from South African President Thabo Mbeki,mediator in the crisis on behalf of the Southern African Development Communitysince March 2007. The draft proposes a government of national unity that would leave Mr. Mugabe as president while installing Tsvangirai asprime minister. The secretaries general of the two MDC formations – Tendai Biti and Welshman Ncube – will represent the opposition. In a related development, Biti's passport was returned to him on Wednesday by the high court, to which he surrendered the document after he was charged with treason last month followinghis return to Zimbabwe from Johannesburg, South Africa. Meanwhile, Harare has dispatched ministers to variouscountries to lobby members of the United Nations Security Council in the aim ofblocking a United States-sponsored resolution to increase sanctions on President Mugabe and members of his inner circle. Countries being lobbiedinclude big powers Russia and China, as well as Panama, Indonesia, Burkina Faso, South Africa and Libya. France’s U.N. ambassador said on Tuesday that the resolution’s sponsors had lined up the nine votes needed topush the resolution to a vote of the Council’s permanent members. Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi said in Ougadougou, Burkina Faso, that Harareis ready to form a national unity government. Some skeptical observers say such assertions arebeing made in hopes they will prevent the U.N. Security Council from reaching a consensus on Zimbabwe sanctions. The proposed U.N. sanctions include an international arms embargo and a freeze on the personalassets of Mugabe and 13 other officials the U.S. says were behind political violence that surged in the wake of March 29 general elections and continuesto the present day. U.N. spokesman Yves Sokorobi told VOA that the resolutionwill come to a vote this week, but no firm date has been set for that exercise. .