Grioo.com : Mugabe hints at disagreements in talks with opposition

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Grioo.com : Mugabe hints at disagreements in talks with opposition

Thursday 17 May 2012

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Mugabe hints at disagreements in talks with opposition
11/08/2008

	Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said Monday inconclusive weekend power-sharing crisis talks with the opposition, mediated by South African President Thabo Mbeki, had run into some disagreements.

	By PANAPRESS


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But he added that the talks would continue later in the day.

The veteran leader Sunday held marathon talks with two opposition leaders and Mbeki to try to hammer out a deal to form a national unity government, seen as the panacea to the country's protracted political crisis.

The talks were broken off after dragging on for more than 15 hours into the early hours of Monday.

Mugabe, speaking at a national shrine for former fighters of the country's war of independence, said the talks had run into some minor disagreements, but did not say what these were.

"At some point I wanted to raise my fist, and the young professor who is here (opposition leader Arthur Mutambara who is also taking part in the talks) also lost patience, but we were cooled down by President Mbeki," he said.

He hinted that the big western powers, which are opposed to his rule, were influencing main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to foil an agreement.

Mugabe vowed he would not compromise national interests in the talks, particularly the emotive land issue, the main dispute between Zimbabwe and the big powers, led by Zimbabwe's former colonial master Britain.

"Zimbabwe will never be a colony again. We will never betray the sacrifices of those who died to liberate this country, never," he said.

Mbeki, an envoy of the African Union and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to Zimbabwe, has been mediating between the two since last year, and appeared to have wrapped up an agreement last week.

He arrived in Harare on Saturday for talks with the country's political leaders, and it was widely expected that a deal on power-sharing between the government and the opposition would be signed last weekend.

The South African leader, who is about to assume the chairmanship of SADC, is keen to wrap up an agreement in Zimbabwe before then, and has had to extend his visit to the country to a third day.