By Nelson Banya
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's ruling party and theopposition Movement for Democratic Change will beginnegotiations on Tuesday on a power-sharing deal that could enda political crisis, the opposition and diplomatic sources said.
President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader MorganTsvangirai signed a deal on Monday that committed the rulingZANU-PF and two factions of the MDC to two weeks ofnegotiations with South African mediators.
"There was convergence among all the parties that thedialogue had to start as soon as the MOU (Memorandum ofUnderstanding) was done, hence the resumption of that processtoday," an MDC official said on condition of anonymity.
A diplomatic source close to the talks said they wouldstart on Tuesday in South Africa's capital, Pretoria. Thesource said neither Mugabe nor Tsvangirai would attend theopening round.
Mugabe's government and the opposition had been deadlockedover talks since the Zimbabwean leader was re-elected on June27 in a poll boycotted by Tsvangirai because of violenceagainst his supporters. Mugabe blames the opposition for thebloodshed.
The establishment of a government of national unity will bethe main issue in the talks, although both sides differ on whoshould lead it and how long it should stay in power.
The African Union and the Southern African DevelopmentCommunity (SADC), concerned by a crisis that has floodedneighbouring states with millions of refugees, have pushed fora power-sharing deal.
MEDIATION PROCESS
The breakthrough between Zimbabwe's rivals appeared tooccur late last week when South African President Thabo Mbekiagreed to expand the mediation process to include the AfricanUnion, United Nations and other SADC officials as a "referencegroup".
Mbeki has been mediating in the crisis for more than a yearand had been increasingly criticised, especially fromTsvangirai's MDC, which accused him of taking too soft a lineon the Zimbabwean leader's government.
Tsvangirai had previously refused to enter formal talksunless government militias stopped violence he says has killed120 of his supporters. He also wanted Mugabe to recognise hisvictory in the first round of the presidential poll on March29.
The talks are expected to be tense and possiblyacrimonious. The MDC has accused Mugabe and his ruling ZANU-PFof violating human rights and rigging elections.
Tsvangirai has been arrested at least half a dozen times bysecurity forces in the past two years, and he was beaten alongwith dozens of supporters in an aborted 2007 anti-governmentprotest.
"This is just the first step on a journey whose durationand success is dependent on the sincerity and good faith of allparties involved," Tsvangirai said in a statement on Tuesday.
Mugabe, 84, has dismissed the MDC as a puppet of the Westand vowed never to let it take power. The Zimbabwean ruler, inpower since independence from Britain in 1980, also hasinsisted that the opposition accept his landslide victory lastmonth.
Zimbabwe's economic collapse under Mugabe's rule hasplunged the once prosperous country into inflation of at least2 million percent as well as crippling food and fuel shortages.
(Writing by Paul Simao; Editing by Elizabeth Piper)
