Zimbabwe’s negotiating parties say they are still waiting to hear from facilitator President Thabo Mbeki on the way forward after this weekend’s SADC summit failed to secure a deal to end the Zimbabwe crisis. But authoritative sources warned that the deadlock would not be easily resolved, as Mbeki felt he had done all he could and now hoped that Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai would change his mind and sign a controversial deal that is on the table. Tsvangirai has steadfastly refused to endorse the deal because it keeps him in a junior role to Mugabe in any government. But Mbeki believes it is an “important starting point”, said one source. The actual negotiations on a way forward had not resumed yesterday, despite reports that they were continuing. Both negotiators from the two formations of the MDC confirmed that they were still waiting to hear from Mbeki.

ZANU PF negotiators, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa and Labour Minister Nicholas Goche, left for Harare with Mugabe at the end of the Southern African Development Community summit on Sunday. Welshman Ncube, chief negotiator of Arthur Mutambara’s MDC faction, left for Harare yesterday. He said he had not heard anything from Mbeki. Tsvangirai said he was also waiting to hear from Mbeki. A source close to Mbeki, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “If he reconvenes the dialogue, it will only be for the purposes of persuading Tsvangirai to sign the deal that is on the table, which the MDC leader has thus far refused to do. “He (Mbeki) is unlikely to reopen the dialogue on the substantive issues because he spent almost a week in Zimbabwe and failed to get Tsvangirai and Mugabe to find common ground on the outstanding substantive issues. There is no sign that the parties would change their positions.” A Zimbabwean source close to the dialogue said that as far as he was concerned, the “dialogue is most probably now dead”. “It’s either Tsvangirai signs, or he doesn’t and nothing happens,” said the official.

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