Supporters of president Robert Mugabe accused the opposition MDC of "bad faith" in talks on forming a cabinet in Zimbabwe as the parties sought again today to break a deadlock over allocating ministries.
The MDC said today the United Nations and African Union should step in to mediate between the country's rivals if talks aimed at rescuing a power-sharing deal stay deadlocked over cabinet posts.
"They [the UN and AU] are the guarantors of the [power-sharing] agreement. If ZANU-PF continues to be intransigent, then those institutions should step in," MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said.
Mr Mugabe, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara of a splinter MDC faction have failed to reach a deal on the allocation of cabinet posts in three days of talks, and were due to start another round of negotiations.
Mr Mutambara, arriving for the talks, said "flexibility and pragmatism" must force the opponents to end the impasse, which threatens a broader power-sharing deal brokered by former South African president Thabo Mbeki a month ago.
"We share the pain and suffering of our people. Surely, this must force us to agree on this debate on cabinet and move on to the core business of running our country," he told reporters as he arrived for today's talks, mediated by Mr Mbeki.
The power-sharing deal is seen as Zimbabwe's best hope for rescuing an economy where fuel, food and foreign exchange are scarce, and inflation stands at 231 million percent.
The official Heraldnewspaper quoted Zanu-PF sources today as saying Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) - which it calls MDC-T - had a hidden agenda.
"Insiders privy to the discussions told the Heraldit appeared as if the MDC-T was negotiating in bad faith and angling for a deadlock in the hope that the mediation would be taken out of the hands of comrade Mbeki and assumed by the African Union and the United Nations," it said.
The paper's sources said Mr Tsvangirai was acting under pressure from the United States and Britain. They accused him of seeking to renegotiate the allocation of ministries that had already been agreed, dragging out a session that was only meant to focus on the finance and home affairs portfolios, the Heraldsaid.
There was no immediate comment from the MDC, which said yesterday that the talks were deadlocked with about 10 ministries still in dispute.
In the past, the MDC has accused Mr Mbeki of favouring Mr Mugabe, but it has toned down its criticism since Mr Mbeki brokered the power-sharing deal.
Zanu-PF has also protested against the introduction in parliament of two motions to debate political violence that MDC supporters complained of during this year's election campaign, and the "militarisation and politicisation" of food aid.
Reuters