Friday, October 03, 2008

Mbeki to continue helping with negotiations

from Reuters SA

,,,

"Mr. Mbeki's facilitation efforts in Zimbabwe have proven his dispassionate vision for a lasting political solution to the challenges facing Zimbabwe," new South African President Kgalema Motlanthe said in a statement.

"Accordingly, our government has full confidence in Mr. Mbeki's ability to build on the historic successes already made in the power sharing negotiations under his mediation."

Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change initially criticised Mbeki as being too soft on Mugabe, but it now supports him continuing his 18-month mediation under a mandate from the 15-nation Southern African Development Community.

DOUBTS

ZANU-PF, which lost control of parliament in a March election and entered the talks reluctantly, said it did not see any immediate need for mediation over the dispute on cabinet posts.

"I don't think that the issue of allocation of ministries is a matter that can be referred to the facilitator (Mbeki)," Patrick Chinamasa, chief ZANU-PF negotiator at the talks, was quoted as saying in the state-run Chronicle newspaper.

"We cannot, at the slightest difference in opinion, call outsiders to mediate. If there is thinking on such kind of an approach, it has to stop in the interest of harmonisation of relations," Chinamasa said.....

The opposition accuses Mugabe's party of trying to assign the opposition a junior role in government.

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