A summit of African leaders has failed to break a deadlock threatening Zimbabwe's power-sharing accord, prompting the 15-nation Southern African Development Community to call for an urgent full-scale summit on the crisis.
Officials said the summit could be held this week or next week in an attempt to persuade President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF and opposition factions to implement the accord, widely seen as vital to any effort to pull Zimbabwe out of economic meltdown.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) said the allocation of the interior ministry, which oversees the police force, was a sticking point in negotiations between ZANU-PF and the opposition on forming a cabinet.
SADC convened yesterday's meeting amid fears the Sept. 15 power-sharing deal was about to unravel after weeks of fruitless negotiations between ZANU-PF and the two factions of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said no good news had emerged from the meeting of the leaders of Mozambique, Angola, Swaziland and South Africa, who held talks with ZANU-PF and the MDC factions.
"The extraordinary summit of the SADC Troika recommends the holding of a full SADC summit to review the political situation as a matter of urgency," SADC said in a communique.
"The extraordinary summit noted with concern disagreements in the allocation of the (interior) ministry ... and urged parties concerned to reach an agreement," said SADC.
Asked what would happen if the planned summit failed to secure a breakthrough, SADC Executive Secretary Tomaz Salamao told reporters: "I can assure you that we will reach an agreement so that option is not relevant."
The power-sharing accord was brokered by former South African President Thabo Mbeki and SADC has urged him to carry on with his mediation efforts.
Inflation is out of control and food and fuel shortages are widespread in Zimbabwe, a once prosperous country and former British colony.
Tsvangirai defeated Mr Mugabe in a presidential election on March 29 but by too few votes to avoid a run-off in June. Mugabe won the second round after Mr Tsvangirai pulled out, saying his supporters had been subjected to violence and intimidation.
Mr Mugabe, 84 and Zimbabwe's sole ruler since independence from Britain in 1980, has dismissed Tsvangirai as a "pathetic Western puppet" and vowed that he will never get near power.
The 56-year-old opposition leader has called Mugabe a "raving old man with nothing to offer".
REUTERS