South African President Thabo Mbeki is to meet the main participants in Zimbabwe's power-sharing talks today ahead of a regional summit which starts in Johannesburg tomorrow.
Talks between Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, opposition MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and breakaway MDC faction leader Arthur Mutambara to end a political crisis stalled earlier this week when Tsvangirai did not agree to a proposed deal.
"There is a meeting with President Mugabe, thereafter Arthur Mutambara, thereafter Morgan Tsvangirai," Mbeki's spokesman Mukoni Ratshitanga said.
"They [the meetings] are in progress. He [Mbeki] is meeting with them one by one." Mbeki has been leading the regional mediation effort to resolve the Zimbabwe crisis.
The power-sharing talks, which began soon after Mugabe's unopposed re-election in June that was boycotted by Tsvangirai and widely condemned, are expected to resume on the sidelines of a South African Development Community summit that opens in South Africa tomorrow.