Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai warned yesterday that negotiations on a power-sharing government with President Robert Mugabe must not be allowed to run on indefinitely.

“It can’t be forever,” Tsvangirai said in Strasbourg, northern France, during a rare visit to Europe. Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) faction said on Friday it would join the government only once a constitutional amendment was passed to comply with all the terms of the power-sharing deal signed two months ago.

“Neither Robert Mugabe nor ZANU PF has the legitimacy of forming any government or running this country in the absence of the consummation of the global power-sharing agreement,” MDC deputy leader Thokozani Khupe said after a party meeting.

Citing an alleged assassination plot against the MDC leadership and renewed violence, the party accused the ruling party of an “obstructionist approach, lack of paradigm shift and (an) entrenched power retention agenda”.

Mugabe has vowed to form a new government soon, after regional leaders proposed last weekend that the political rivals share the contentious home affairs portfolio. The proposal was rejected by the opposition.

Under the deal signed on September 15, Mugabe would remain president while Tsvangirai would be prime minister. But parliament must approve an amendment to establish the office of the prime minister and define its powers. Khupe said the MDC would not join the government until the amendment was in place.

Former United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan and former US president Jimmy Carter are to visit Zimbabwe. They would travel with rights activist Graça Machel on November 22-23 , Annan said.

(Source)