Zimbabwe leaders fail to break deadlock
Tuesday, 30 Sep 2008 19:59
Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai again fail to agree on key Cabinet posts
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Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe and prime minister designate Morgan Tsvangirai have failed to break a deadlock over the allocation of key ministries after a meeting on Tuesday.
A landmark deal that will see Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) sharing power was concluded on September 15th but its implementation has been stalled by a dispute over the allocation of cabinet posts.
"There was a deadlock again on key ministries when [Mr] Mugabe and [Mr] Tsvangirai met this afternoon. Zanu-PF wants all the key ministries," said Nelson Chamisa, MDC spokesperson.
Mr Mugabe, upon his return from the United Nations general assembly meeting in New York, denied there was a deadlock in talks with the MDC over key ministries and said a new government will be formed before the end of the week.
"We will be setting up government by the end of the week… We never said there was a deadlock," the 84 year old leader who has ruled the country since independence in 1980, said on Monday.
Under the signed power sharing deal, Mr Mugabe will remain president and head of government but will relinquish some of his presently wide-ranging powers to MDC leader Mr Tsvangirai, who becomes prime minister.