Mbeki tries to kick-start Zimbabwe talks

HARARE, Zimbabwe, Sept. 8 (UPI) -- South African President Thabo Mbeki said Monday he will meet with both sides in an effort to kick-start stalled power-sharing talks in Zimbabwe.

While in Harare, South African Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa told the BBC that Mbeki would meet Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, as well as Arthur Mutambara, the leader of a smaller opposition faction.

Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change claimed victory in presidential elections earlier this year but pulled out of a June run-off saying supporters of Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF had killed at least 200 MDC backers.

Under Mbeki's mediation, Mugabe and Tsavngirai agreed that the MDC leader should become prime minister of a new government but they reached a stalemate over how much power Mugabe should wield as president.

"The issue that we are facing here is that Mugabe must accept to surrender some of his powers for the power-sharing arrangement to work," the BBC reported Tsvangirai as telling an MDC rally Sunday in Gweru. "We would rather have no deal than a bad deal."