President Thabo Mbeki’s attempt to engage African Union Commissioner Jean Ping as a part-time negotiator in Zimbabwe’s power-sharing talks has been rejected by Morgan Tsvangirai, who says his appointment must be all or nothing. Despite the insistence on the part of South Africa’s Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad that Mbeki’s meeting with Ping on Friday will be purely procedural and for briefing purposes only, the Cape Times has learnt that the SADC facilitator had hoped the AU commissioner would join the negotiating table for a brief period in a bid to appease the Movement for Democratic Changes’s point of contention. The MDC has repeatedly said it did not trust Mbeki as an honest broker and has insisted meaningful dialogue could only take place when a non-SADC permanent envoy joined the negotiating table. The MDC says the issue is not negotiable.
The latest rebuttal comes as Zimbabwe’s main rival parties attempted to hammer out a so-called Memo of Understanding that would guide a two-week round of intensive negotiations this month around the issue of an inclusive government. The deadline for their considerations was today. However, with a number of issues still outstanding, the prospect of reaching consensus anytime soon is looking increasingly unlikely. It is understood that the weighting of the Senate, outlined in the draft MoU as 52-48 in favour of ZANU PF, is unacceptable to the MDC. Despite the failure on the part of the United Nations Security Council to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe, the MDC appears to be holding the greatest bargaining power. With Parliament due to be convened tomorrow, it is not clear how Robert Mugabe will react to the MDC’s apparent unwillingness to come on board and whether he will constitute a cabinet of his picking.
(Source)