Zimbabwe Opposition Asks Mbeki to Break Impasse
By VOA News
01 October 2008
Zimbabwe's main opposition party has asked former South African President Thabo Mbeki to help break a deadlock in power-sharing talks with the party of President Robert Mugabe.
The Movement for Democratic Change, MDC, and the ruling ZANU-PF party have been unable to agree on the distribution of cabinet posts in a national unity government.
An opposition spokesman says ZANU-PF is demanding control of all of the most powerful ministries - including finance, home affairs and defense.
Mr. Mbeki helped broker a historic power-sharing deal between the two parties last month.
He has been mediating the talks under a mandate from the 15-nation Southern African Development Community.
The power-sharing deal calls for Mr. Mugabe to remain Zimbabwe's president, while MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai would become prime minister. But the talks have stalled in recent days because of the dispute over cabinet posts.
Mr. Mbeki's role in the talks has been unclear since he resigned from office last month after accusations he was interfering in a corruption case against the leader of South Africa's ruling party, Jacob Zuma.
On Monday, President Mugabe said he expects a new power-sharing government to be formed by the end of this week and denied a deadlock exists in talks with the opposition over cabinet posts. He said only four ministry posts remain.
Zimbabwe has been without an official government for months following disputed presidential elections. Mr. Tsvangirai won the most votes in the first round, but pulled out of the runoff because of state-sponsored violence against his supporters.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
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