Zimbabwe's Tsvangirai warns on power-sharing deal

Zimbabwe's opposition MDC will walk away from a power-sharing deal if new mediation efforts fail to break a deadlock over Cabinet posts, the party's leader Morgan Tsvangirai said yesterday.

But the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) would continue talking if it seemed agreement could be reached, he said.

Former South African President Thabo Mbeki is due in Harare today to try to conclude negotiations which have stalled over a new Cabinet that is expected to end years of political and economic crisis in the southern African nation.

A government notice on Saturday showed Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe had allocated three key ministries to his Zanu-PF party, angering the opposition and threatening the power-sharing deal brokered by Mr Mbeki last month.

The parties have been at loggerheads since the signing of the September 15 pact on how to divide up 31 Cabinet posts.

"If this mediation fails we will say 'this marriage has failed to be consummated, and we cannot force things'. There will be no option but to go our separate ways," Mr Tsvangirai told thousands of supporters at a rally in Harare.

"(But) as long as there is an opportunity we will continue to negotiate until we reach an agreement," he said, adding that the MDC was not desperate to get into government.

Mr Mugabe allocated to his party the ministries of defence, home affairs - which is in charge of the police - and finance, crucial for the resuscitation of the devastated economy. The Cabinet impasse has outraged Zimbabweans who had hoped the power-sharing agreement would end an economic meltdown.

Addressing chanting party supporters, Mr Tsvangirai said should Zanu-PF take the defence post, the MDC had to have home affairs. He said his party was better placed to muster the goodwill of foreign donors and persuade them to help rescue the economy.

Zimbabwe has the world's highest inflation, last measured at 231 million per cent, chronic shortages of food and foreign currency, and crumbling infrastructure.

MDC officials and supporters draped in party regalia denounced Mr Mugabe, accusing the veteran leader of grabbing powerful ministries to appease Zanu-PF hardliners.

Mr Tsvangirai said the MDC would not use the police in retribution against Zanu-PF for unleashing violence on the opposition and said that, as the victor in the first round of a presidential election in March, he should allocate ministries.