No sign of Zimbabwe peace talks
African mediators have asked Zimbabwe’s opposition to open talks with President Robert Mugabe’s ruling party but no meetings are planned, opposition leaders said today.
Kgalema Motlanthe, secretary-general of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress, and senior Nigerian diplomat Adebayo Adedeji want the two sides to meet to negotiate an end to Zimbabwe’s political standoff, said Tendai Biti, the opposition’s foreign affairs spokesman.
However, no agreement to meet has been reached, he said.
South African media reported today the opposition Movement for Democratic Change agreed that two small delegations from both sides were to meet in the next two weeks to try to set an agenda for future talks.
’’That is rubbish. There have been representations but nothing has happened. There is no agreement,’’ Biti said.
The MDC has resisted pressure to meet the ruling party and called for a rerun last month’s presidential elections in which Mugabe was declared the winner against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
Senior ruling party officials have called for talks to end the impasse as African and international pressure on Mugabe mounted to form a coalition with the opposition.
Zimbabwe is facing its worst economic crisis since independence in 1980 amid growing sanctions threats against government leaders by the United States and the European Union.
