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M. Continuo

Mugabe to meet Tsvangirai over cabinet posts


    By Cris Chinaka

    HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe was set to meet opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Saturday to try to break a deadlock over cabinet posts threatening a crucial power-sharing deal, a senior government official said.

    Arthur Mutambara, leader of a smaller faction of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), was also due to attend the meeting at Mugabe's State House offices in Harare, he said.

    "The principals will be meeting today in an effort to resolve the outstanding issues," a senior official close to the talks told Reuters.

    The official declined to comment on when an agreement was expected or whether there was mounting pressure from former South African President Thabo Mbeki -- who is mediating in the Zimbabwe crisis -- to form a government.

    "I don't think we should be speculating. An agreement will be reached when the outstanding issues have been resolved," he said.

    Mbeki's spokesman said Mbeki would not be going to Zimbabwe to mediate Saturday's talks.

    "He is not going to Zimbabwe this weekend," spokesman Mukoni Ratshitanga told Reuters.

    Officials from both Tsvangirai's main MDC party and Mutambara's faction declined to comment on the talks.

    Talks between Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF and the MDC have reached an impasse over who will control key ministries in a unity government to be established under the September 15 power-sharing deal.

    The opposition accuses Mugabe's party of trying to assign it a junior role in government and says only mediation can break a deadlock in talks on forming a cabinet.

    But ZANU-PF said it did not see any immediate need for mediation and Mugabe had expressed confidence the cabinet would be named this week. Tsvangirai and his officials say a deal is not imminent.

    A meeting between Mugabe and Tsvangirai on Tuesday failed to lead to a breakthrough, raising fears the deal could break down.

    Without a breakthrough, Zimbabwe's economy could worsen still further. The once-prosperous nation is crumbling under inflation of about 11 million percent -- the highest in the world -- and chronic food shortages.

    (Additional reporting by Serena Chaudhry in Johannesburg; Editing by Richard Williams)