Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and new Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in Harare in September. Former South African president Thabo Mbeki says he is hopeful that power-sharing talks in Zimbabwe will produce a breakthrough as he arrived in Harare for a regional summit.(AFP/File/Alexander Joe)
Emergency Summit Talks In Zimbabwe Fail -- Telegraph
A regional summit in Harare trying to resolve the impasse in Zimbabwe's power-sharing agreement has broken up in failure.
"There was no progress at all," during more than 13 hours of talks, said Tendai Biti, the secretary-general and chief negotiator of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
The issue will now be referred to a full summit of the Southern African Development Community, expected in the next few weeks, he added.
The MDC signed a power-sharing deal with Robert Mugabe last month, but it has still not gone into effect as the parties are deadlocked over the allocation of ministries, with Mr Mugabe unilaterally assigning all key posts to his Zanu-PF party.
Thabo Mbeki, the former South African president who is mediating the process, had earlier said he was "very optimistic", claiming: "Progress on the talks is very good."
At least 47 people were arrested and eight injured when police broke up a pro-democracy protest outside the hotel hosting the talks, organisers said.
Read more ....
My Comment: No one should be surprised.