Mugabe to open parliament despite warning

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe will officially open parliament on Tuesday despite opposition warnings that such a move would endanger crucial power-sharing talks.

Parliament clerk Austin Zvoma told reporters the new parliament would convene on Monday.

Tendai Biti, secretary-general of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, said in a statement earlier that convening parliament would break a framework agreement governing power-sharing talks to try to end Zimbabwe's political crisis.

"Any decision to convene parliament will be a clear repudiation of the Memorandum of Understanding, and an indication beyond reasonable doubt of ZANU-PF's unwillingness to continue to be part of the talks. In short convening parliament decapitates the dialogue," Biti said.

In March elections, the ruling ZANU-PF lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since independence from Britain in 1980, but Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC did not win an overall majority either.

The balance of power rests in the hands of a breakaway opposition faction led by Arthur Mutambara.

He has moved closer to Mugabe in recent weeks and any deal between them could weaken Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe's most powerful opposition leader, and add to political uncertainty.

The MDC initially said on Tuesday it had no objection to the opening of parliament but would reject any moves by Mugabe to appoint a cabinet before a power-sharing deal is reached.

Zimbabwe's Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, ZANU-PF's chief negotiator in the talks, said: "Yesterday, they said they had no problem with parliament opening, and today they have a problem? I have no comment on that."

Power-sharing negotiations began last month to resolve the impasse resulting from Mugabe's unopposed re-election in June. The vote was condemned around the world and boycotted by Tsvangirai because of attacks on his supporters.

(Reporting by Nelson Banya; writing by Michael Georgy; editing by Tim Pearce)