Ruling party calls off talks with opposition in Zimbabwe

HARARE, Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe's ruling party officials called off talks with the opposition over disputed presidential elections, saying there was nothing to discuss as long as the opposition was challenging the vote in court, the state Herald newspaper reported Friday.

Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, representing the government in the talks, asked Nigerian and South African mediators to delay Monday's scheduled meeting aimed at resolving Zimbabwe's political stalemate since elections in March, the newspaper reported.

Ruling party officials at a meeting Thursday decided to cancel the talks while the opposition Movement for Democratic Change was challenging the election results to the Harare High Court.

Chinamasa said his delegation "believed no useful purpose would be achieved by continuing with the dialogue pending the court action," The Herald reported.

The opposition had also taken a combative stand by setting conditions for the talks and publicizing them in "inflammatory newspaper advertisements," Chinamasa said.

Senior opposition official Welchman Ncube who represented the Movement for Democratic Change delegation to the talks, said his party, "dismiss as hypocritical nonsense," the government's walking out on talks.

The talks were convened by Kgalema Motlanthe, secretary-general of South Africa's ruling African National Congress, and veteran Nigerian diplomat Adebayo Adedeji in a bid by Africa's two most powerful nations to resolve Zimbabwe's political stand off.

Claiming the March 9-11 vote was rigged in favor of Mugabe, the opposition are demanding a new election held under international supervision within six months to a year. Official results showed opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai losing by some 400,000 votes.

Mugabe has refused to consider new elections, and hopes for making headway in the talks were dim from the outset.

Tsvangirai has also demanded an immediate end to state-orchestrated reprisals against his supporters and has ruled out mediators' calls for him to join a national unity government.

Mugabe, 78, led Zimbabwe to independence in 1980 and has vowed to crush any protests against his victory. He ruled virtually unchallenged until the economy collapsed and political violence erupted two years ago.

School principal critical of the government charged under new security laws in Zimbabwe *** Brendan Tieranan, the white principal of St. George's College, a Roman Catholic high school in Harare, faces up to five years in jail for allegedly "communicating false statements prejudicial to the state" likely to endanger public safety or cause disorder or violence, the police said. Police cited as evidence Tiernan's criticism of President Robert Mugabe's recent re-election in a recent letter addressed to parents of students at his Jesuit-founded school. The letter described Mugabe's being named winner of the election as "morally invalid" and a source of embarrassment to Zimbabwe.

………. Despite U.S. visa and entry sanctions against Mugabe and top government officials to protest the elections and human rights abuses, Mugabe traveled to New York with his wife Grace, Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge and Youth Minister Elliot Manyika, the Zimbabwe state media reported Thursday. Manyika heads a ruling party youth militia training program that independent human rights groups blame for assaults, rape and torture of opponents, including children and teen-agers. Schools in opposition strongholds have been shut down after teachers accused of supporting the opposition were assaulted in front of their classes, Tsvangirai said. U.S. officials have said Mugabe traveled to New York under U.N. immunity conditions similar to those used by Cuban leader Fidel Castro in recent decades.***

Excellent.

From the standpoint of the opposition, the talks were a mistake. They could only have led to a deal which would have resulted in the absorbtion and elimination of the opposition. A one-party state.

I suspect that Tsvangirai only entered into them so as to avoid alienating Mbeki and Obasanjo who had insisted on them.

had Zanu PF not called off the talks, the MDC youth wing would have forced Tsvangirai to call them off.

This way, he does not get any blame from those who either mistakenly or maliciously saw the talks as the salvation of Zim.

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