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Zimbabwean crisis meeting delayed; deal may be near
Janice Kew and Nasreen Seria, Bloomberg
September 10, 2008

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601116&sid=aiml2RgNRpFk&refer=africa

The Southern African Development Community's defense committee postponed its meeting to discuss the political crisis in Zimbabwe, where negotiators said an accord on a coalition government may be reached today.

The summit was postponed to allow South African President Thabo Mbeki more time to broker a power-sharing agreement between Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and opposition leaders, Clifford Mamba, principal secretary of Swaziland's Foreign Ministry, said by phone today.

``The mediation talks were supposed to be concluded last night, but President Mbeki requested more time,'' Mamba said from Mbabane, Swaziland, the venue of the SADC meeting. "The chairman of the meeting agreed to postpone until tomorrow."

Mbeki was mandated by the 15-nation SADC to try and help mediate an end to a dispute between Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change. Tsvangirai won a March 29 presidential election, though without the 50 percent needed to avoid a runoff, and is seeking control over Zimbabwe's Cabinet and government. The 56-year-old MDC leader says Mugabe, 84, can remain as ceremonial head of state.

Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, leader of an MDC splinter group, began talks on July 21 to discuss sharing power. The negotiations broke off on Aug. 12 after Mugabe and Tsvangirai failed to agree on how executive powers would be divided.

Possible agreement today

An agreement may be signed today, Agence France-Presse reported, citing Mugabe, who began a new round of talks with Tsvangirai, Mutambara and Mbeki in Harare, the Zimbabwean capital, on Sept. 8.

"We are finishing tomorrow, hopefully,'' AFP quoted Mugabe as saying late yesterday. "We are still going to talk, there are one or two areas of disagreement.''

Tsvangirai said in a phone interview with Bloomberg News that yesterday's talks had some "positive aspects.''

"There are still some outstanding issues to resolve, which we hope to achieve tomorrow,'' he said late yesterday.

Mbeki will attend tomorrow's meeting of the SADC defense committee, known as the security troika, South Africa's Foreign Ministry spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said in a phone interview from Pretoria. The current members of the troika are Swaziland, Mozambique and Angola.

Janice Kew in Johannesburg: jkew1@bloomberg.net; Nasreen Seria in Johannesburg: nseria@bloomberg.net.

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