Talks between Zimbabwe's political parties on a power-sharing government resumed Friday in South Africa on the eve of a summit of southern African leaders, where Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's planned attendance was the subject of protest, according to dpa. "The talks are ongoing. Yes. They started this morning in South Africa. We are optimistic that a solution can be found to the sticking point," Tapiwa Mashakada, deputy secretary general of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), said. Arthur Mutambara, the leader of a breakaway MDC faction that is also a party to the talks and who is in South Africa for the summit, confirmed talks between Mugabe's Zanu-PF and the two MDCs were taking place. "The talks never broke down. They are continuing here in South Africa and in Zimbabwe. We're talking, talking, talking," he told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. Asked whether the three leaders planned face-to-face talks over the weekend, Mutambara said coyly, "People don't talk unless they meet." Three days of talks between the leaders in Harare mediated by South African President Thabo Mbeki ended Tuesday with Tsvangirai walking out in disagreement with Mugabe over what their respective roles would be in a unity government. The MDC is calling for Tsvangirai to be made executive prime minister and for Mugabe to be a ceremonial president, while Zanu-PF is calling for Mugabe to retain some executive powers. Mutambara has sided with Mugabe in the spat. Tsvangirai arrived earlier in Johannesburg for the two-day summit of Southern African Development Community (SADC) leaders starting Saturday after being stymied in his first attempt to leave the country. Zimbabwean secret police confiscated his travel documents for several hours at Harare airport on Thursday, delaying his departure. A negotiator for Mugabe told Zimbabwe's state-controlled The Herald newspaper Mugabe would travel to South Africa on Friday, despite his planned attendance at the SADC summit being the subject of several protests. A spokesman for Botswanan President Ian Khama's government said Khama would not be attending the summit in protest over Mugabe's presence. "Botswana does not accept the result of the June 27 run-off election in Zimbabwe as it violated the core principles of the SADC, the African Union and the United Nations," the statement said. The South African-based Zimbabwe Exiles' Forum brought an urgent application before the Namibia-based SADC tribunal Friday to suspend the invitation extended to Mugabe. The group argued SADC should respect the verdict of its observers on the June election, who said the poll that Tsvangirai boycotted did not reflect the will of Zimbabweans It is a view shared by South Africa's Congress of Trade Unions, which has announced an anti-Mugabe protest for Saturday outside the summit venue. Mbeki, the SADC mediator in Zimbabwe, had been eager to bag a deal before the summit, which is expected to be dominated by the Zimbabwean crisis. It was uncertain whether the 11th-hour talks in South Africa would suffice to resolve the issue of the division of powers between Mugabe and Tsvangirai. In an apparent attempt to force Tsvangirai back to the table, Zanu-PF has threatened to reconvene parliament next week and form an alliance with Mutambara's faction, which holds the balance of power in the lower House of Assembly. Mutambara again Friday denied any such bilateral deal. "They're (Zanu-PF) just putting pressure and so on. This will only be a tripartite agreement," he told dpa. Zimbabweans are counting on a negotiated political settlement to end a near decade-long economic crisis. Inflation is running at over 2 million per cent, and the Red Cross is warning that nearly half the population could need food aid by the end of the year. Western powers have said they will help bail Zimbabwe out, but only if Tsvangirai and the MDC lead the government and Mugabe, who has led the country for 28 years, takes a back seat. dpa cb cm wjh 151517 GMT Aug 08
