Zimbabwe Ruling Party Dismisses Mbeki mediation

Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF has dismissed calls for former South African President Thabo Mbeki to intervene in a deadlock over the sharing of prime cabinet positions with the Opposition. Instead, ZANU-PF’s chief negotiator Patrick Chinamasa denied that the negotiations were deadlocked, insisting that the contention for the ministries of defence, home affairs, state security and finance could be resolved by the two sides without any external intervention. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who is tipped to become Prime Minister in a unity government, called for Mbeki’s return to mediate the impasse after failing to reach agreement in a meeting with President Robert Mugabe on Tuesday. Tsvangirai and Mugabe signed a power sharing accord on September 15 to resolve a political crisis that began when Mugabe lost elections to Tsvangirai in March then bulldozed his way to reelection in a one man June runoff. [PE]