Tsvangirai to attend SADC meeting

HARARE, Zimbabwe, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- Morgan Tsvangirai, prime minister-designate in Zimbabwe and leader of the opposition, plans to attend a meeting to try to resolve the political deadlock.

Leaders from Mozambique, Angola. Swaziland and the Democratic Republic of Congo are expected to attend the Southern African Development Council in Harare Monday, Voice of America reported. Tsvangirai refused to attend a meeting last week in Swaziland because he has no passport.

The council has been attempting to negotiate a working government in Zimbabwe that would include both President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF Party and the Movement for Democratic Change, headed by Tsvangirai. So far, apparent agreements have quickly fallen apart, and Tsvangirai charged Friday that Mugabe is negotiating in bad faith, the Zimbabwe Independent said.

Sources told the newspaper Tsvangirai accused South African President Thabo Mbeki, who has spearheaded the mediation, of not being impartial.

Mugabe has been president of Zimbabwe since the country won independence almost 30 years ago. In recent years, the country has gone into an economic tailspin, including hyperinflation that has made its currency worthless.