AU Proposal Rejected

(Daily Nation)--Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has said power-sharing negotiations have broken down and are unlikely to resume soon, South Africa’s Talk Radio 702 reported today.

The talks have stalled over how executive power should be shared by President Robert Mugabe and Tsvangirai, who refused to sign an agreement that would have made him prime minister.

Meanwhile, President Robert Mugabe’s party has rejected calls by the African Union (AU) that the veteran leader should share executive power equally with his main rival Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, insisting that a power sharing deal dismissed by the opposition as inadequate was the best it could offer. Tanzania, the current AU chair yesterday said it wants to see a 50-50 power sharing deal agreed for Zimbabwe immediately to end a devastating political and economic crisis.

But Mr Patrick Chinamasa, the ruling Zanu PF’s chief negotiator in the stalled power sharing talks with Mr Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said they were not prepared to cede more power. ‘What powers should we cede to Tsvangirai when a deal was agreed to, only for him to renege after consulting outside forces. The party, government and SADC were satisfied with the powers Tsvangirai was going to enjoy as prime minister’.

He said Tanzania’s call was not derived from SADC or the AU position, which ‘didn’t specify who should occupy what in that government’. ‘It was left to the people of Zimbabwe to decide and they have done. We await Tsvangirai to see reason and sign the agreement’, Mr Chinamasa said. The MDC had welcomed Tanzania’s call reiterating that any agreement should be based on the results of the March 29 elections.

In the polls, MDC won control of parliament with 100 seats against Zanu PF’s 98 and Mr Tsvangirai defeated Mr Mugabe in the first round of the presidential election. Mr Tsvangirai has protested against a proposed deal, saying it did not give him enough executive powers in government.

The MDC leader said he refused to sign a deal with Mugabe because the proposal would have given the veteran leader control of security forces. ‘There was an attempt to fragment the cabinet. With some ministries reporting to the president and some ministries reporting to the prime minister’, he told Talk Radio 702. ‘In this case the economic and social ministries will go to the prime minister. The security ministries will go to the president’.

Talk Radio 702 quoted Tsvangirai as saying he ‘was not aware of plans’ for the talks to resume soon. Tsvangirai beat Mugabe in a March 29 election.

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