Zim parties resume Cabinet talks

HARARE – Zimbabwe’s political factions were back in talks, both sides said Sunday, but so far can’t even agree on how far they’ve progressed, a measure of the difficulty of turning their pledges of cooperation into action.

President Robert Mugabe and his main rivals signed a power-sharing agreement last month brokered by former South African President Thabo Mbeki. Since then, though, they have made no progress on deciding who would hold which posts in their Cabinet.That has meant they have yet to turn their attention to their nation’s economic and humanitarian crisis.Mbeki has agreed to resume mediating.But the two sides met without him on Saturday.Nelson Chamisa, spokesman for main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, said on Sunday that negotiators were going back to the table to find what he called “a domestic remedy” before deciding whether it was necessary to call back mediators.George Charamba, Mugabe’s spokesman, said talks on Saturday between Mugabe, Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change and Arthur Mutambara, leader of a smaller opposition group, failed to allocate control of just the home affairs ministry, in charge of police, and the finance ministry, the official Sunday Mail newspaper reported.Charamba said the leaders met for two hours at Mugabe’s State House offices in Harare and decided to hand back discussion on the two ministries to negotiators for the parties who drew up the power sharing deal signed September 15.Nampa-APSince then, though, they have made no progress on deciding who would hold which posts in their Cabinet.That has meant they have yet to turn their attention to their nation’s economic and humanitarian crisis.Mbeki has agreed to resume mediating.But the two sides met without him on Saturday.Nelson Chamisa, spokesman for main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, said on Sunday that negotiators were going back to the table to find what he called “a domestic remedy” before deciding whether it was necessary to call back mediators.George Charamba, Mugabe’s spokesman, said talks on Saturday between Mugabe, Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change and Arthur Mutambara, leader of a smaller opposition group, failed to allocate control of just the home affairs ministry, in charge of police, and the finance ministry, the official Sunday Mail newspaper reported.Charamba said the leaders met for two hours at Mugabe’s State House offices in Harare and decided to hand back discussion on the two ministries to negotiators for the parties who drew up the power sharing deal signed September 15.Nampa-AP