Mugabe hardliners killed Zimbabwe deal: Tsvangirai

By Jeremy Lovell

LONDON (Reuters) - Members of Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF were negotiating for a government of national unity days after last month's elections but hardliners scuppered the deal, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said on Thursday.

The results of a March 29 parliamentary election have been declared, giving Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) a majority, but those for a presidential poll have not.

Tsvangirai says he won the presidency, but President Robert Mugabe, in power since then Rhodesia won independence from Britain 28 years ago, has not conceded. He has called for a recount of part of the parliamentary vote and a rerun of the presidential race.

"We were prepared to consider the issue of an inclusive government, including some members of ZANU-PF, in fact, they were suggesting how many and we were talking about a panel from which we were going to choose," Tsvangirai told BBC television news in an interview recorded in Johannesburg on Thursday.

He added that the approach came from Mugabe's party. ZANU-PF said earlier there had been an approach for talks from the MDC.

Tsvangirai said part of the deal had been that no one should lose their jobs or face prosecution. The immunity deal would include Mugabe, he added.

But he said the atmosphere of the talks suddenly changed.

"The very same people who were coming to us for discussions organized the meeting and did not turn up for almost two hours, our guys left and we realized that the situation had totally changed, they were back to their plan," he said.

"I am sure that the hardliners just put a stand through the military," he added, suggesting that Mugabe had been prepared to go but that he had been persuaded to stay by senior members of his party who were afraid of retribution.

The interview came the same day as South African President Thabo Mbeki, who has been criticized for saying there was no crisis in his northern neighbor, called for prompt publication of the election results.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, on a visit to the United States, told a meeting of the United Nations in New York on Wednesday that Mugabe was trying to steal the election.

The sharp language was endorsed on Thursday by U.S. President George W. Bush who told a news conference after meeting Brown he supported his stand on Zimbabwe.

The former breadbasket of Africa is in the throes of economic and social meltdown with inflation running at an annual rate of over 160,000 percent and reports of widespread famine and deaths.

Mugabe blames a colonial plot for the troubles he barely admits the country is suffering.

(additional reporting by Ibon Villelabeitia)

(Editing by Elizabeth Piper)