Word: tsvangirai
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With no substantive comment from either side after three weeks of negotiation, the progress of power-sharing talks between the leader of the Zimbabwean regime, Robert Mugabe, and his opposition rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, remain a mystery. But some hint of the atmosphere in which they are being conducted emerged Thursday when Zimbabwean security forces briefly detained Tsvangirai, his deputy - Movement for Democratic Change (M.D.C.) general secretary Tendai Biti - and a third M.D.C. official. The three were held at Harare airport and, after their passports were confiscated, prevented from leaving the country to attend a weekend summit of southern African leaders...
...after 28 years of one-man rule in late June, at his inauguration for his sixth term as president. The move was a surprise. A few days before, Mugabe had emerged as sole candidate in the election for president, meant as a second-round run-off between him and Tsvangirai, after the opposition leader pulled out in the face of violence unleashed by Mugabe's security forces and their allied militias. On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch reported the regime and its supporters had killed 163 M.D.C. activists and tortured or beaten 5,000 more since Tsvangirai came out ahead...
Since talks began on July 22, however, there has been little word on any progress. The central sticking point is how to divide power between Mugabe and Tsvangirai. After a week, the talks hit their first roadblock when the M.D.C. rejected as "insulting" an initial offer by Mugabe's regime to make Tsvangirai one of three vice presidents. [Zimbabwe's other two vice presidents are ranking members of the ruling Zimbabwean African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) party, and perform a largely ceremonial role.] Since then, there has been little authoritative word - and much wild speculation...
Power-sharing negotiations between Robert Mugabe's government and Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) have hit their first stumbling block: Weeklong talks were adjourned after the MDC rejected as "insulting" the government's offer to make opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai one of three vice presidents. (Tsvangirai won more votes than Mugabe in the first round of presidential polling on March 29; he withdrew from the runoff race in the face of a campaign of violence against opposition supporters by security forces and militias loyal to Mugabe.) An MDC source at the talks in Pretoria, South Africa, told...
...drawn rare criticism from fellow African leaders - a fact that appears to have rattled the man who has ruled Zimbabwe since overthrowing the racist white Rhodesian government in 1980. At his inauguration speech last month, Mugabe unexpectedly promised talks with the opposition on sharing power. Last week, Mugabe met Tsvangirai in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, and agreed to begin talks mediated by South African President Thabo Mbeki. Those discussions began last week in Pretoria, with some suggesting that an agreement was possible within two weeks...