Tsvangirai says Mugabe may have abandoned talks

By Helen Nyambura-Mwaura

NAIROBI (Reuters) - President Robert Mugabe may have decided to abandon power-sharing talks aimed at ending Zimbabwe's deep crisis, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said on Thursday.

Tsvangirai said Mugabe's intention to open parliament next Tuesday was a "repudiation" of a Memorandum of Understanding on the basis for talks to end a political deadlock that followed disputed June elections.

"If President Mugabe goes ahead to convene parliament, appoint a new cabinet, it means he is proceeding to violate the conditions of the MOU which means he may have abandoned the basis for the talks. But we don't know what his intentions are," Tsvangirai told a news conference in Nairobi.

"A violation of the MOU will have to be dealt with by the mediator," he added.

South African President Thabo Mbeki is mediating in the talks, which began last month to resolve an impasse following Mugabe's unopposed election in a widely condemned vote boycotted by Tsvangirai because of violence against his supporters.

Tsvangirai confirmed that the talks were deadlocked over the roles of president and prime minister in a new government. Mugabe is expected to remain as president but, backed by security chiefs, he is reluctant to cede key powers.

Tsvangirai wants a real executive power as prime minister.

"There is one stumbling issue which we have been grappling with -- the framework of the power and roles of the president and the new position of prime minister for the duration of the transition leading up to 2-1/2 years," Tsvangirai said.

Whereas the opposition wants a short transition before new elections, Mugabe is believed to want a full five-year term.

DEADLOCK

A member of a breakaway faction of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said in a newspaper interview on Thursday that Tsvangirai had rejected a deal that would have seen executive power shared between him and Mugabe.

Welshman Ncube, chief negotiator of the smaller MDC faction, told South Africa's Star that southern African leaders, Mugabe and his group saw this as a reasonable arrangement.

It was the clearest indication yet of the proposal being discussed at the talks.

The faction, led by Arthur Mutambara, controls the balance of power. Although any deal between him and Mugabe could weaken Tsvangirai, it would be unlikely to end Zimbabwe's crisis.

Mugabe's decision to go ahead with opening parliament suggests there is no solution in sight to the deep deadlock with Tsvangirai.