MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa told the BBC: "Both political parties are committed, it's our wish that the deal will be successful."
Zimbabwe's envoy to the UN, Boniface Chidyausiku told the BBC that the deal was a "triumph for African diplomacy".
BBC Film HERE.
HARARE (AFP) — Zimbabwe's main opposition called on regional powers on Monday to pressure President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party to be more flexible in power-sharing talks....
"ZANU-PF has to be persuaded to be rational and put the people first. The dialogue is not just about power. It has to go beyond that," Chamisa told AFP.
"They (ZANU-PF) are not committed to finding a solution to the problems bedevilling the country. All they want is power," he added.
The talks, which began in July, have stalled amid differences over how to share executive powers between Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in a national unity government....
.....Senior ruling Zanu-PF party officials said on Tuesday that Mutambara had reached agreement with Mugabe on the shape of a new administration. South Africa's president, Thabo Mbeki, who was mediating the negotiations, confirmed that the two men did agree the division of powers in the next government, to be led by Mugabe.
But Mutambara, who heads a splinter group from Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change, said that did not mean he is prepared to serve in a new administration while there is still no deal between the two principal players. The talks broke up after Tsvangirai refused to drop his demand that Mugabe relinquish power and become a ceremonial president.,,,
Tsvangirai's aides treated with suspicion Mutambara's claim not to have done a deal with Mugabe, noting that the opposition faction leader had shifted his position considerably in recent days and was praised by Zimbabwe's president in a speech earlier this week.....
The credibility of Arthur Mutambara's role in the power-sharing talks is being questioned, as the leader of the second MDC faction taking part in the talks appears to be aligning himself closely with Robert Mugabe.
The latest sign of Mutambara's suspected cross-allegiance came after he launched a scathing attack on the West in his Heroes Day message on Monday. The message, titled "Exalting the Heroic Revolution" spends pages criticising the West in a truly Mugabe-like style. In the message, Mutambara first recognises the significant role the West will play in Zimbabwe's future by saying: "We appreciate the moral, diplomatic and material support our democratic forces and organizations have received from Western institutions and governments."
<But the message then continues with Mutambara saying, "we take exception to the irritating ignorance, political insensitivity, double standards, and patronizing arrogance that characterize Western diplomacy". Mutambara's message also takes aim at the Western criticism of the ongoing politically motivated violence in the country, labeling it "moralising nonsense". He also lashed out at Western governments, saying they have "undermined our legitimacy, strengthened our opponents, removed our moral authority, and ruined our effectiveness and standing among Africans".
Summary: He is kissing the A@@@ of Mugabe to get power...he plans to take his faction of the MDC and join it with Mugabe...so in the future, he might be able to take over.HARARE (AFP) — Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's spokesman Thursday called reports of a deal in power-sharing talks "nonsense", but both he and South Africa said negotiations over the country's crisis were advancing....
A South African newspaper reported on Wednesday that Mugabe would have amnesty from prosecution and a ceremonial role in government under what it called a draft settlement to resolve the crisis.
Opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Tsvangirai would run Zimbabwe as executive prime minister under the plan, The Star reported, saying it had obtained a copy of the draft.
The paper also reported that Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, leader of a smaller faction of the MDC, would hold a meeting in Harare later Thursday.
Mutambara spokesman Edwin Mushoriwa told AFP the three would meet soon, but likely not Thursday.
Officials from the main MDC faction refused comment on Thursday....
He will endeavour to get the sworn enemies to agree on a deal to share power - no small task, given the chasm between the 84-year-old who has ruled Zimbabwe since its independence and says he will never leave office, and his harshest critic, who says he will accept only a deal in which he and his party take power.
On July 21, the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding that gave them two weeks to hammer out a political transition. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Tsvangirai and Mr. Mugabe held their first acknowledged meeting, sharing a brief meal.
Teams from both sides began negotiations in the South African capital, Tshwane (formerly Pretoria), but the talks broke down July 29 on the crucial issue of who will, in fact, hold power. The government apparently proposed that Mr. Mugabe remain the president with all the powers he has now, with Mr. Tsvangirai given the role of third vice-president....
In those first negotiations, it soon became apparent, according to people close to the talks, that those delegated to speak for the Movement for Democratic Change and ZANU-PF could handle the basic constitutional issues but were not empowered to make real decisions about power. And so it falls to Mr. Mbeki to try to bridge a vast and hostile distance - which can really only have one outcome, putting Mr. Tsvangirai in power, an outcome all of Zimbabwe's current powerbrokers are determined to keep from happening.
Mr. Mbeki himself brings limited powers of persuasion to the deal. He and Mr. Tsvangirai openly despise and mistrust each other, the international community believes he has little credibility as a mediator, and his own party dismisses him as a failure. But Mr. Mbeki takes over as head of SADC, the regional power bloc, next week, and he appears determined not to step into that office with the festering and divisive sore of Zimbabwe still open.
The proposal from SADC, reportedly, is that Mr. Mugabe remain a largely titular and ceremonial president, while Mr. Tsvangirai takes the position of prime minister, which the country currently does not have, with executive powers. There is a suggestion that control of the government's 23 ministries be divided between the parties.
But two senior ZANU-PF members who are very close to Mr. Mugabe, and who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Globe and Mail that he has no intention of relinquishing power.
"The feeling in our party is that we are the ruling party and therefore we must maintain some power, I mean real power," said a senior member of cabinet who co-ordinated the government activities around the election. "Anything that attempts to strip us of this power is not acceptable. ... ZANU-PF is not going to accept crumbs, and that is a fact."...
Efforts to make peace between the government and the opposition have been virtually stalled since Zimbabwe’s president, Robert G. Mugabe, agreed to the talks under pressure from southern African political leaders at a regional meeting in March.
Leaders of the opposition, the Movement for Democratic Change, had gone to Pretoria to begin the talks several weeks ago, but government negotiators did not show up. Last week, the police confiscated the passport of one of the opposition leaders, Arthur Mutambara, the head of a breakaway faction of the opposition group....
In recent days, however, Mr. Mugabe has seemed to soften his stance. Last week, a government-controlled daily newspaper, The Herald, reported that Mr. Mugabe had distributed tractors and plows to a clutch of political leaders, including opposition politicians, saying: “There must be occasions when we must be together. After all, we eat together.”
The gesture was almost unprecedented for Mr. Mugabe, who calls his political opponents tools of Britain and the United States and has openly threatened them with beatings.
Opposition leaders dismissed the remarks as political theater....
