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Mbeki to brief SADC on Zimbabwe talks
Business Day (SA)
June 20, 2007

http://allafrica.com/stories/200706200374.html

Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu PF and opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) returned home yesterday after initial talks in Pretoria on the country's political and economic crisis. The two rival parties, convening under the mediation of President Thabo Mbeki, will resume dialogue early next month after Mbeki has reported back to his Southern African Development Community (SADC) colleagues on the talks so far. Mbeki is expected to brief SADC leaders, who authorised him in March to deal with the issue , by the end of this month. Mbeki will also report to the African Union (AU) next month. AU president John Kufuor of Ghana has given Mbeki's mediation his full support. Sources said the negotiations , under the chairmanship of SA's Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi, went "very well" at a personal level between delegates despite the two parties' initial positions being like the "north and south poles". Zanu PF is represented by Zimbabwean Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa and Labour Minister Nicholas Goche, while the MDC negotiators include lawyers Welshman Ncube and Tendai Biti. "The meetings were very friendly and conducted in good spirits but the two parties held widely divergent views," a source close to the talks said. After preliminary meetings on Sunday and Monday, the parties agreed to discuss all the issues they had tabled. It is understood the parties eventually agreed on a common consolidated agenda.

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