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Southern Africa Zimbabwe Zimbabwe opposition chief flies to South Africa
Southern Africa Zimbabwe Zimbabwe opposition chief flies to South Africa
Jul
28
2008
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 Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai flew to South Africa on Monday amid claims by his party that talks on ending the country's political crisis had run into trouble. Although Tsvangirai's spokesman said the visit was private, a source in his office said he had come to consult with his team of negotiators. Meanwhile a spokesman for South African President Thabo Mbeki, the long-time mediator between Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF party and Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), denied any suggestion that the talks were in deadlock a week after both sides signed up to full-scale negotiations.Tsvangirai spokesman George Sibotshiwe confirmed that the MDC leader had flown in from Zimbabwe. "We arrived this afternoon," Sibotshiwe said. "We are here for private business." Another source in his office however, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Tsvangirai was to meet with senior lieutenants who have been negotiating with Zimbabwean government representatives for the past five days. "He is going to meet his negotiators for consultations," said the official. Opposition sources said they were becoming bogged down over what position Tsvangirai would get in any government of national unity. "They have offered Morgan the post of third vice-president and nothing else, which is obviously a position totally unacceptable to the MDC," said one MDC source. "This shows the complete lack of sincerity and the need to really address the issues and problems Zimbabwe is facing." Tsvangirai's arrival comes a week after he signed a deal with President Robert Mugabe to begin talks on sharing power after a months-long election dispute. The talks are being held at a secret venue in the Pretoria area, with the MDC represented by the party's secretary-general Tendai Biti and Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa heading the ruling ZANU-PF party's delegation. No one from ZANU-PF was able to comment on the MDC's claims although Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu had earlier told state media that "the dialogue process is going on smoothly and we are sure that a positive outcome would be achieved." "The talks will definitely succeed," he told the Herald newspaper. A spokesman for Mbeki refuted any suggestion that the talks were deadlocked. "I don't know where that comes from," he told AFP."The talks are continuing very well. I speak on behalf of the facilitator so I know what's happening." Tsvangirai pushed Mugabe into second place in the first round of voting on March 29 but he pulled out of a June 27 run-off presidential election after a wave of deadly attacks against his supporters.Mugabe, who has ruled the former British colony uninterrupted since 1980, then won the one-man poll by a landslide and was sworn in for a sixth term in office. Tsvangirai spent much of the period in the immediate aftermath of the March election abroad, basing himself in South Africa, before returning home for the final stages of the campaign. He had been unable to travel in recent weeks as he had run out of space in his passport, according to MDC sources. Source: AFP Set as favorite Bookmark
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