Zimbabwe crisis talks starts in South Africa

By Nelson Banya

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's ruling party and the opposition MDC began negotiations on Tuesday in neighboring South Africa on a power-sharing deal that could end the country's political crisis, diplomatic sources said.

President Robert Mugabe and Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai signed a deal on Monday that committed the ruling ZANU-PF and two factions of the MDC to two weeks of negotiations with South African mediators.

A diplomatic source close to the talks said negotiations began on Tuesday at an undisclosed venue in South Africa's capital, Pretoria. The source said neither Mugabe nor Tsvangirai would attend the opening round.

An MDC official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said "There was convergence among all the parties that the dialogue had to start as soon as the MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) was done, hence the resumption of that process today."

The government and the opposition had been deadlocked over talks since Mugabe was re-elected unopposed on June 27 in a run-off poll boycotted by Tsvangirai because of violence against his supporters. Mugabe blames the opposition for the bloodshed.

The main goal of the Pretoria talks will be the creation of a government of national unity, though the two sides differ on who should lead it and how long it should stay in power.

But analysts said the two week deadline may be difficult to keep to.

"Unfortunately, I am very skeptical. I think it is ambitious to expect a solution in two weeks. Yesterday's event is a good first step, but the two parties are so polarized it will take nothing short of a miracle to achieve that," said John Makumbe, political science lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe.

Pressure on the two sides to share power came from the African Union and the Southern African Development Community, concerned by the political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe that has flooded neighboring states with millions of refugees.

The European Union on Tuesday increased pressure on Mugabe, saying it had agreed additional sanctions on Zimbabwe.

BREAKTHROUGH

An EU official said at a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Brussels that 37 people and four companies would be added to the EU's Zimbabwe sanctions list.

The breakthrough between Zimbabwe's rivals appeared to follow South African President Thabo Mbeki's agreement late last week to expand the mediation process to include the African Union, the United Nations and other SADC officials.

Mbeki has been mediating in the crisis for more than a year and had been increasingly criticized, especially by the MDC, which accused him of taking too soft a line with Mugabe.

South Africa's ruling ANC on Tuesday welcomed the agreement.