Report: Zimbabwe leaders seek amnesty

PRETORIA, South Africa, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- Military and police backers of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe are secretly seeking amnesty deals that would spare them if Mugabe lost power, sources say.

Sources close to the stalled power-sharing talks in South Africa between Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai say Lt. Gen. Constantine Chiwenga, Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri and intelligence chief Happyton Bonyongwe were seeking amnesty deals in return for supporting regime change, The Observer reported Sunday.

The three Zimbabwean leaders, blamed by many for carrying out a campaign of political violence earlier this year aimed at Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change party, reportedly fear Mugabe is distancing himself from them. That has prompted them to appeal to South African President Thabo Mbeki to include deals for themselves in the power-sharing talks Mbeki is mediating.

The talks stalled last week when the MDC threatened to pull out over what Tsavangirai said was a lack of commitment from Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party. Mugabe, in turn, said he would form a government without the MDC if it didn't return to the table, The Observer said.