Mugabe sets powersharing deal deadline for Tsvangirai

Robert Mugabe: Threatens to form government without MDC

ZIMBABWE: ZIMBABWEAN PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe will form a new government without the opposition if its leader Morgan Tsvangirai had failed to sign a powersharing deal by last night, state media said yesterday.

Speaking from Zambia where he was attending the funeral of former president Levy Mwanawasa, Mr Mugabe told the Herald newspaper: "If after tomorrow [Thursday], Tsvangirai does not want to sign, we will certainly put together a cabinet. We feel frozen at the moment."

Earlier this week Mr Tsvangirai said powersharing negotiations between the country's political rivals had broken down, and there was little chance they would resume in the near future.

Both men's statements are a significant blow to regional mediation aimed at resolving the political crisis that has brought Zimbabwe's economy to its knees since disputed general elections last March.

Hopes were high last month that a deal, in which Mr Tsvangirai would become prime minister and Mr Mugabe president, could be brokered at a regional summit in Johannesburg. However, the opposition leader refused to sign up to the deal at the last minute.

Mr Tsvangirai told South African radio on Wednesday he had refused to sign the agreement endorsed by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) because it left Mr Mugabe in control of the security forces. He said the deal was "an attempt to fragment the cabinet", with some ministries reporting to the president and others to the prime minister. "In this case the economic and social ministries will go to the prime minister. The security ministries will go to the president," he explained.

Mr Mugabe has since reconvened parliament and threatened to appoint a cabinet, undertakings that require a consensus among all those involved in the talks under their agreed conditions.

Although efforts to overcome the impasse resumed last Friday they stalled again on Sunday after Zanu-PF refused to sign a counter proposal giving the MDC greater powers in a unity government.

Patrick Chinamasa, Zanu-PF's chief negotiator, said the ruling regime would not cede more power to the opposition leader. "What powers should we cede to Tsvangirai when a deal was agreed to, only for him to renege after consulting outside forces? The party, government and SADC were satisfied with the powers Tsvangirai was going to enjoy as prime minister," he said.

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times