Associated Press
By
ANGUS SHAW
Associated Press Writer
HARARE,
Zimbabwe (AP) -- Party officials close to Zimbabwe's power-sharing
talks say
President Robert Mugabe has agreed to a power-sharing plan with a
breakaway
opposition faction.
They say Arthur Mutambara, who heads a splinter group
of the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change, has agreed to a
power-sharing accord with
Zimbabwe's president. No further details are
available.
The officials from the ruling party and the main opposition
movement led by
Morgan Tsvangirai spoke on condition of anonymity because
mediator Thabo
Mbeki has insisted on confidentiality.
Mutambara
himself would not comment before South African President Mbeki
makes a
statement.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further
information.
AP's earlier story is below.
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -
Power-sharing talks between Zimbabwe's authoritarian
leader and the
opposition movement broke up late Tuesday with no visible
sign of a solution
to the country's political crisis and economic meltdown.
President Robert
Mugabe brushed off questions as he left the hotel in the
capital Harare
after three days of grueling talks, saying: "I'm sleepy."
But he denied
that the negotiations had failed. "Talks will never collapse
as long as we
have tongues," he said.
The key stumbling block has been how much power
Mugabe is willing to cede to
the opposition movement, which won a majority
of parliament in the March
elections.
Opposition Movement for
Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai won the
most votes in the
presidential elections, but not enough to avoid a runoff.
He then boycotted
the runoff to protest widespread violence; Mugabe claimed
victory.
Tsvangirai has said he could work with moderates from
Mugabe's ZANU-PF
party, but not with Mugabe.
ZANU-PF and powerful
police and army generals of the Joint Operational
Command insist Mugabe must
remain president.
Tsvangirai was stony-faced as he walked briskly from
the hotel to his car
Tuesday. He made no comment other than to say that
mediator South African
President Thabo Mbeki would make a
statement.
Mbeki's spokesman Mukoni Ratshitanga said no decision had been
made for a
statement.
The opposition party's No. 2, Tendai Biti,
denied the talks had broken down.
"The talks have not collapsed," he
said. "We are taking time out."
The leader of a breakaway opposition
faction, Arthur Mutambara, said he
would give a news conference Wednesday.
There have been rumors that
Mutambara might break ranks with Tsvangirai in
return for a government post.
At a ceremony marking Armed Forces Day on
Tuesday, Mugabe praised the
military and distributed medals to retired and
serving military officers.
"It is a result of the alert, vigilant and
patriotic manner they have
conducted their day to day duties," he said,
promising more pay hikes and
housing for soldiers.
Independent
monitors and human rights activists accuse the military of being
implicated
in violence and intimidation targeting opposition supporters.
Human
Rights Watch accused the ruling party and its allies of involvement in
the
killings of at least 163 people, and the beatings and torture of more
than
5,000 others since the March elections.
The group said 32 opposition
supporters have been killed since the June 27
runoff, and two since ZANU-PF
and the opposition signed the memorandum of
understanding that paved the way
for negotiations on a power-sharing
government.
Mugabe's security and
police chiefs reportedly are worried that he will make
too many concessions
at the power-sharing negotiations and strip them of
their privileges - and
potentially their protection from prosecution.
One of the contentious
issues is whether ZANU-PF would retain control over
the police and army in
any power-sharing formula.
Mugabe, 84, and ZANU-PF have ruled Zimbabwe
since the country gained
independence in 1980.
But the longtime
president has come under international criticism for his
increasingly
autocratic measures to hold onto power, including land reform
policies that
have laid waste to the country's once-thriving agricultural
sector.
Zimbabwe now has the world's highest rate of inflation, with
Zimbabweans
scrambling for jobs and basic goods and food.
BBC
Tuesday, 12 August 2008 23:26 UK
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and breakaway
opposition leader
Arthur Mutambara have signed a power-sharing deal, ruling
party officials
say.
The agreement does not include Morgan
Tsvangirai, leader of the main
opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC), a Zanu-PF official said.
There has been no official
confirmation of the reports.
The BBC has been told by officials
close to Mr Mutambara that reports
of a deal being signed were
untrue.
Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai were earlier reported to be
unable to
agree on how to divide power.
Mr Tsvangirai left a
Harare hotel without comment after four hours of
negotiations on Tuesday and
the BBC's Karen Allen in Johannesburg says
confusion surrounds the state of
the talks.
But she says if a deal has been agreed with Mr Mutambara
it could be
used to exert pressure and draw concessions from Mr
Tsvangirai.
MDC Secretary General Tendai Biti said earlier: "The
talks have not
collapsed. It's just a time out."
Campaign of
violence
Tuesday's talks followed a five-hour meeting on Monday and
a marathon
session on Sunday that lasted more than 13 hours.
South African President Thabo Mbeki has been mediating the talks, and
his
role is expected to come under scrutiny at a meeting of regional powers
this
weekend.
Mr Tsvangirai won the first round of Zimbabwe's
presidential election
in March, before pulling out of a June run-off because
he said there was a
campaign of violence against his
supporters.
The violence claimed the lives of more than 100 people
and displaced
hundreds of thousands.
Zanu-PF has blamed the
opposition for post-election violence.
Financial Times
By Tom Burgis in
Johannesburg
Published: August 12 2008 23:26 | Last updated: August 12
2008 23:26
Talks to resolve the crisis in Zimbabwe broke up on Tuesday
night without
agreement, leaving the strife-torn country to face further
weeks of
political turmoil.
A spokesman for the opposition Movement
for Democratic Change said
power-sharing talks between Morgan Tsvangirai,
its leader, and Robert
Mugabe, the president, on a power-sharing deal had
collapsed over the
veteran leader's refusal to cede executive powers to his
bitter rival.
Mr Tsvangirai beat Mr Mugabe into second place in
elections in March but
withdrew from a run-off as state-sponsored violence
against his supporters
mounted.
The breakaway faction of the MDC did not
immediately respond to requests to
comment on a news agency report that it
had agreed to enter a unity
government with Mr Mugabe, cutting out Mr
Tsvangirai.
International donors have said they will only release a
multi-billion-pound
aid package if Mr Tsvangirai holds sway in any new
government.
A spokesman for Thabo Mbeki, the South African president who
is brokering
the talks, said he was flying to Luanda to brief his Angolan
counterpart
ahead of a regional summit this weekend that will see Mr Mbeki
come under
pressure to show progress in his mediation
efforts.
Cosatu, the powerful South African trade union federation,
yesterday
threatened a week-long boycott of goods bound for Zimbabwe should
Mr Mugabe
refuse to stand down.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk
By
Eddie Wrenn
Last updated at 11:28 PM on 12th August
2008
Zimbabwe was plunged into fresh turmoil last night as
opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai was frozen out of a deal to form a new
government.
Tyrant Robert Mugabe is reported to have clinched a
power-sharing agreement
with the leader of a breakaway faction of the
opposition Movement for
Democratic Change, giving him enough sway in
parliament to cling onto power.
Last night, after three days of intense
talks to try and reach a
breakthrough in the Zimbabwe crisis, former union
leader Tsvangirai, who won
most votes in the first round of the
presidential election at the end of
March, appeared to have been cast aside
and left in the political
wilderness.
Officials in
Mugabe's ZANU-PF party said the deal had been reached with MDC
faction
leader Arthur Mutambara, who studied at Oxford and is regarded as
one of
Africa's brightest scientists.
However other sources in the party say a
deal has not been agreed, with
Mutambara making no comment on Tuesday
night.
His group holds ten seats in the parliament - enough to give
ZANU-PF the
support it needs to form what was being described as a
government of
"national unity" last night.
A ZANU-PF official said:
'We, and the MDC headed by Mutambara have signed
the agreement. Tsvangirai
did not sign the agreement because he is basically
trying to take us back,
to renegotiate issues that we had already agreed on.
'We are proceeding,
and President Mugabe is going to form a government of
national unity
including members of the opposition.'
The ZANU-PF official declined to
comment on whether the new government would
include officials from
Tsvangirai's MDC.
He added 84-year-old Mugabe had not closed the door on
more talks with
Tsvangirai but the ruling party refused to be 'held
hostage'.
'The president has said they have not collapsed, and that is
the position.'
The key stumbling block during the talks at a Harare hotel
have been how
much power Mugabe was willing to cede to the opposition
movement, which won
a majority of parliament in the March
elections.
Although Tsvangirai won the most votes in the presidential
elections, he did
not get enough votes to secure an outright victory and he
withdrew from a
run-off in June after a vicious campaign of intimidation by
Mugabe's thugs
and militiamen against his supporters.
Tsvangirai has
said he could work with moderates from Mugabe's ZANU-PF
party, but not with
Mugabe.
ZANU-PF and powerful police and army generals of the Joint
Operational
Command had always insisted Mugabe must remain as president even
though he
has brought the country - once the breadbasket of Africa - to its
knees with
the world's highest inflation and dire poverty.
Tsvangirai
was stony-faced as he walked briskly from the hotel to his car
last night.
He made no comment other than to say that mediator South African
President
Thabo Mbeki would make a statement.
Mbeki's spokesman Mukoni Ratshitanga
said no decision had been made for a
statement.
Mutambara said he
would give a news conference on Wednesday.
There have been rumors that
Mutambara might break ranks with Tsvangirai in
return for a government
post.
Earlier on Tuesday, at a ceremony marking Armed Forces Day, Mugabe
praised
the military and distributed medals to retired and serving military
officers.
'It is a result of the alert, vigilant and patriotic manner
they have
conducted their day to day duties,' he said, promising more pay
hikes and
housing for soldiers.
Human Rights Watch accused the ruling
party and its allies of involvement in
the killings of at least 163 people,
and the beatings and torture of more
than 5,000 others since the March
elections.
The group said 32 opposition supporters have been killed since
the June 27
runoff, and two since ZANU-PF and the opposition signed the
memorandum of
understanding that paved the way for negotiations on a
power-sharing
government.