Zimbabwe dispute centers on key ministries

HARARE, Zimbabwe, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- Talks aimed at sharing power in Zimbabwe are stalled after three weeks because President Robert Mugabe's party refuses to give up key ministries, opponents say.

Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front and Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change are deadlocked after they signed a historic power-sharing agreement Sept. 15, The Washington Post reported Wednesday. MDC supporters blame Mugabe's intransigence.

"There isn't progress in any way," Nelson Chamisa, a spokesman for the MDC, told the Post. ZANU-PF, he said, "is trying to take all the key ministries. We are insisting on making sure that we actually share the ministries equitably."

The newspaper said the heart of the dispute is centering around the country's Home Affairs and Finance ministries. Home Affairs controls Zimbabwe's police, and since Mugabe will keep control of the army as president, the MDC wants the Home Affairs Ministry to "make sure that Zimbabwe becomes a safe destination for investment," Chamisa said.

The MDC says Mugabe needs to be stripped of the Finance Ministry because his policies of recklessly printing money and building a financial patronage system have ruined Zimambwe's economy.