Maravi

Mugabe holds face-to-face talks with Mutambara

Mugabe holds face-to-face talks with Mutambara
By George Chellah in Harare, Zimbabwe
Monday July 07, 2008 [04:00]

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe on Saturday held the first ever face-to-face talks with opposition MDC breakaway faction leader Arthur Mutambara in the presence of SADC chief negotiator President Thabo Mbeki. And MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai snubbed President Mbeki at the last minute after confirming a day before with the South African mediation team that he would be present for the talks.

Meanwhile, President Mbeki said it was the view of the facilitators and the Zimbabwean leadership that negotiations needed to move with some speed. President Mbeki initially had a brief discussion with President Mugabe at State House on Saturday afternoon. He later proceeded with another meeting at Zimbabwe House with President Mugabe and leaders of the splinter MDC faction after Tsvangirai and leaders from his faction failed to show up for the discussions.

Present in the talks on the ruling ZANU-PF’s side was President Mugabe, Vice-President Joyce Mujuru, labour minister Nicholas Goche and justice minister Patrick Chinamasa, among others. The opposition MDC breakaway faction was led by its head, Professor Arthur Mutambara, secretary-general Professor Welshman Ncube and deputy secretary-general Priscilla Misihairibwi-Mushonga.

The South African mediation team comprised President Mbeki, local government minister Sydney Mufamadi and the South African Ambassador to Zimbabwe Professor Mlungisi Makhalima.

The meeting lasted for about two hours. After the meeting, President Mbeki briefly told journalists that the meeting was worthwhile and that he was hoping to meet Tsvangirai at a later stage.

“It was the view of the facilitators and the Zimbabwean leadership that we need to move with some speed. We agreed that MDC (Tsvangirai’s formation) has to be part of the negotiations so we are hoping that the process will take place with them,” he said.

President Mbeki said he flew into Harare partly because of the request from Tsvangirai.

“We had agreed to the meeting yesterday (Friday) essentially to get agreement about broadly the framework the dialogue should follow,” President Mbeki explained.

“Unfortunately, when I arrived, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai said they would request that the meeting be postponed but this was after we had arrived.”

And addressing journalists after the meeting, Prof Mutambara criticised Tsvangirai for staying away from the meeting with President Mugabe.

“For these negotiations, for this political settlement to make sense… all political parties must be involved including Morgan Tsvangirai.

It is important that any discussions, any political negotiations are all-encompassing including all political parties in the country and in particular including Morgan Tsvangirai,” he said.

Prof Mutambara said his faction was a separate entity in the country’s politics.

“We are here as a party to demonstrate our commitment,” Prof Mutambara said.

And Chinamasa told journalists that the negotiating teams from both parties agreed to meet on Saturday.

“We agreed yesterday at the request of the facilitator that the principles of the three teams meet today. Unfortunately, the other MDC formation did not attend,” Chinamasa said.

“It was utter disrespect for Tsvangirai to agree yesterday… to meet the facilitator here. And it is an act of utter disrespect for him to fail to show up today.”

He said ZANU-PF was committed to negotiations with both formations of the MDC.

“We are committed to dialogue, we are committed to unifying our country. We are committed to ensure that we enter into a peaceful settlement,” Chinamasa said. “We are going to do everything in our power to maintain the momentum, whether negotiations from Tsvangirai are going to be there or not.”

Chinamasa said he hoped that Tsvangirai would not resort to attempts of making the country unstable.

“I hope he won’t do a Jonas Savimbi late UNITA rebel leader on Zimbabwe. If the country is not careful, it will be precipitated to instability. The next few weeks will show,” he said.

But MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa, who was locked up in a meeting with Tsvangirai, claimed that his party was not aware of the meeting.

Labels: ARTHUR MUTAMBARA, MDC, MUGABE, ZANU-PF

posted by MrK @ 2:12 PM