By MacDonald Dzirutwe
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe saidon Wednesday crisis talks with the opposition were going welland he wanted negotiations aimed at solving the country'spolitical impasse to succeed.
Mugabe's comments came as Zimbabwe's central bank tooksteps to shore up the worthless currency in the countrysuffering economic collapse, announcing a redenomination of theZimbabwe dollar by cutting 10 zeros from the currency.
"We're still negotiating, we want to succeed. Negotiationsare negotiations, they are not a card game... You find room forcompromise, sometimes compromise is difficult and you stand byyour proposals as presented. You debate again and again andreach a compromise. I understand the talks are going well,"Mugabe told a news conference in Harare.
South African President Thabo Mbeki prepared to travel toHarare on Wednesday to meet Mugabe as part of his mediation inZimbabwe's political crisis talks, officials said.
Mbeki denied on Tuesday that talks between Zimbabwe's rivalparties had reached a deadlock, saying the power-sharingnegotiations were going well and negotiators had adjourned toreport back to their respective party leaders.
South Africa's department of foreign affairs said in astatement that Mbeki met opposition Movement for DemocraticChange leader Morgan Tsvangirai and his negotiating team inPretoria on Tuesday.
"The meetings are part of the president's ongoingSADC-mandated facilitation process in Zimbabwe," the statementadded, referring to the Southern African Development Communitythat asked Mbeki to mediate in Zimbabwe.
Mbeki's spokesman Mukoni Ratshitanga said that in Harare,Mbeki would also hold talks with Arthur Mutambara, leader of asmaller faction of the opposition MDC.
Senior negotiators from Mugabe's ZANU-PF and the MDCstarted full talks last Thursday after the two rival leaderssigned a framework deal on talks on July 21. The agreement seta two-week deadline which runs out on August 4, but it could beextended.
Mugabe and Tsvangirai are under international pressure,including from within Africa, to negotiate a national unitygovernment to end a crisis that has ruined Zimbabwe's economyand flooded neighbouring states with millions of refugees.
(Writing by Marius Bosch; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)
