World News Story

09 January 2009 02:08 BST

Zimbabwe party talks 'will resume'

Mediation talks between Zimbabwe's political parties will resume under the chairmanship of South African president Thabo Mbeki.

The news was announced in Zimbabwe's state-run Herald newspaper but the Reuters news agency said opposition parties had not confirmed the story.

Last month president Robert Mugabe won a sixth term in power, as well as international condemnation, when his Zanu-PF party supporters launched a campaign of violence and intimidation against the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Mr Mugabe attracted pressure from African Union leaders at a summit to participate in mediation talks and Zanu-PF spokesperson Patrick Chinamasa has now revealed they are due to resume "sooner rather than later".

"I obviously cannot tell you what is on the table or when or where we will be meeting as we do not want to negotiate in public," the Herald quoted him as saying.

Mr Chinamasa criticised MDC candidate Morgan Tsvangirai for boycotting talks which had been scheduled for last weekend.

"As Zanu-PF, we are disappointed that Tsvangirai, who requested for the meeting, did not turn up. His no-show shows that someone is dictating the pace for him," he added.