August 04, 2008	Monday	Sha'aban 1 429

JOHANNESBURG, Aug 3: Zimbabwe’s rival parties resumed power-sharing talks on Sunday, one day before the expiry of a deadline to conclude discussions over ending the country’s ruinous political crisis.

After nearly a week-long break following suggestions the talks were deadlocked, negotiators met again in South Africa to resolve the crisis, which intensified after President Robert Mugabe’s controversial re-election.

“They started this afternoon,” said Mekong Ratshitanga, spokesman for South African President Thabo Mbeki, who has been mediating the talks that have been held in a secret location.

He said more talks were to occur on Monday, but declined to provide further details.

A spokesman for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Tapiwa Mashakada, confirmed the party’s negotiators had returned to Pretoria for Sunday’s meeting.

Zimbabwe’s state-run Sunday Mail quoted an anonymous source saying representatives for both sides had arrived in the South African capital.

The meeting came after a bomb exploded at Harare’s main police station on Saturday night, shattering windows and damaging 13 offices and a kitchen, but causing no injuries, police said. It remained unclear who was responsible.

“We are not going to speculate or jump to conclusions until we have gathered all the evidence,” national police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said.

“We are leaving our investigations very open.” The talks had broken up on Tuesday as negotiators flew home to consult with their leaders amid suggestions by the MDC that discussions on power-sharing between Mugabe and rival Morgan Tsvangirai were deadlocked.

Mbeki flew to Harare for talks with Mugabe after the adjournment and also met Tsvangirai in Pretoria.

The South African leader said in Harare the talks were “progressing”.

There have since been signs that the two-week deadline set out in a July 21 deal laying the framework for discussions would not be met, with Tsvangirai saying last week the timeframe was “not inflexible”.

Ratshitanga said on Sunday the deadline should apply only to the number of days spent negotiating.

“That two weeks has got to be looked at from the point of view that they did take a four- or five-day break to go and consult,” he said.

Tsvangirai finished ahead of Mugabe in the March first round of the presidential election, but boycotted the run-off, citing rising violence against his supporters that left dozens dead and thousands injured.

He announced his withdrawal five days ahead of the June 27 election, and Mugabe pushed ahead with the vote despite widespread calls to postpone it, handing himself a sixth term as president.

The two arch-rivals recently held a rare face-to-face meeting.

Tsvangirai believes his first-round total gives him the right to the lion’s share of power, but sources in his party said recently Mugabe’s negotiators had so far only offered him one of several vice presidential posts.

The ruling party has insisted Mugabe must be recognised as president as part of any deal, since he won the June 27 vote.

In a television interview last week, Tsvangirai declined to comment on his or Mugabe’s respective roles in any interim government, but said the 84-year-old president should be allowed an “honourable exit” from power.

He also stressed that a transitional government should last no more than two years.

Mugabe last week expressed his “total commitment” to the negotiations, which also include an MDC splinter faction led by Arthur Mutambara, insisting they were “going well”.

“We would like to see the speedy conclusion of the talks ... and successful outcome so that we can focus in the future our attention around our economy.”

—AFP