Fresh violence clouds resumption of Zimbabwe talks

By MacDonald Dzirutwe

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimababwe's opposition on Friday accused government security forces of murdering a polling agent in fresh political violence that could undermine preliminary talks with President Robert Mugabe's ruling party.

Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew from a June 27 presidential run-off poll, citing attacks on his supporters by pro-Mugabe militia. The MDC and Western powers branded Mugabe's landslide re-election a sham.

Tsvangirai's MDC and a smaller faction led by Arthur Mutambara began preliminary discussions on Thursday with officials from Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF under the auspices of South African mediators in Pretoria, the South African capital.

"Yes, the talks are continuing," a diplomatic source close to the talks told Reuters on Friday. Tsvangirai's MDC has played down the importance of the talks.

"There hasn't been any dialogue as far as we are concerned, but what I can confirm, though, is that we have had consultative contacts with a view to outlining the broad parameters, the framework of the negotiation ...," MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said.

A total of 113 MDC activists have been killed in election-related violence since the first round of elections in late March, the party said in a statement announcing the death of one of its officials, Gift Mutsvungunu.

His decomposing body was found in a Harare suburb on Thursday, with eyes gouged out and a severely burned backside," it said. "There is reasonable suspicion that state security agents killed him."

Tsvangirai defeated Mugabe in a March 29 presidential election but failed to win the absolute majority needed to avoid the second ballot. The MDC leader has refused to negotiate a power-sharing deal until the government halts the bloodshed.

U.N. SANCTIONS RESOLUTION FAILED

Western nations led by Britain and the United States on Friday failed in their bid to push the U.N. Security Council to impose sanctions on Mugabe's inner circle and an arms embargo on Zimbabwe.

Russia and China vetoed the resolution in the 15-member council.

They backed South Africa in opposing sanctions, as do most other African nations. The African Union, at a summit last month, called for talks leading to a national unity government.

They say harsh punishment of Mugabe could derail a political solution and push Zimbabwe's economy deeper into crisis.

"The important thing is that there must be a dialogue, there must be an expeditious solution and an expeditious outcome that will address the problems of Zimbabwe," South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma said.

Once prosperous Zimbabwe suffers the world's worst inflation rate, estimated to be at least 2 million percent, and millions of its people have fled to neighboring countries in search of food and work.