Zimbabwe's opposition MDC today insisted on controlling several key ministries before any government can be formed with president Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF, suggesting no progress had been made on the main hurdle.
Shortly after an MDC source said power-sharing talks were close to collapse, the party said in a position paper it would remain committed to an agreement to form a unity government as long as it controlled powerful ministries such as defence and finance.
Power sharing talks between Mr Mugabe and the opposition are likely to collapse, an opposition source said earlier.
The source close to the negotiations, which have been described as a last-ditch effort to save the power-sharing agreement, told Reuters they were "almost certain to collapse".
The assessment came just after regional leaders started talks with Mugabe and opposition parties in the latest push for implementation of September's deal.
A unity government, delayed over the distribution of cabinet posts, is seen as the best chance of preventing total economic collapse in once prosperous Zimbabwe, where prices double every day and more than 2,000 people have died in a cholera epidemic.
South African president Kgalema Motlanthe, Mozambique leader Armando Guebuza and Thabo Mbeki, regional mediator and South Africa's former president, arrived at a Harare hotel for the talks shortly before noon (1000 GMT) today.
Mr Mugabe, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai and the head of breakaway MDC faction Arthur Mutambara were due to try to thrash out an agreement to save the pact.
"Now is the time to find common ground among Zimbabweans. Now is the time for flexibility, compromise and pragmatism," Mr Mutambara told reporters.
"As the opposition we share and agree with the demands made by MDC-T. Those demands must be addressed. We hope Robert Mugabe and ZANU-PF respond positively to those demands."
On Sunday, however, both sides appeared entrenched in their positions.
The MDC's executive committee said it would not join a unity government until all its demands, including the equitable distribution of cabinet jobs with Mugabe's ZANU-PF, were met.
The party called for "finality" in the dialogue, "either in success or in failure, because Zimbabweans cannot continue to be arrested by an inconclusive process".
Mr Mugabe said the MDC should accept the deal or end talks over its implementation, state media reported.
Reuters