South African Mediators Meet Over Zimbabwe
A
new team of South African mediators have held their first talks
with Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe in a fresh bid to ease
tensions within the strained unity government.
A report on Tuesday, says President Robert Mugabe met the
visiting South African mediation team.
The state owned Herald said the mediators, including South
African President Jacob Zuma's foreign policy adviser, Lindiwe
Zulu, met Mugabe at the State House in Harare.
The team also met with negotiators from Mugabe's ZANU-PF party
as well as rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC).
‘Novel’
Zuma named the new team last week to take over the regional
mediation role previously held by former South African president
Thabo Mbeki, who brokered the power-sharing deal signed last
year that created the unity government.
Mbeki, however, had faced widespread criticism over his
"quiet diplomacy" which critics said was too soft on 85-year-old
Mugabe, who has ruled since independence in 1980.
Bone of contention
The unity government created in February has been plagued by a
raft of disputes that led Tsvangirai to boycott cabinet for
three weeks in October.
Regional leaders in the Southern African Development Community (SADC)
ended the standoff at a special summit in Mozambique, tasking
Zuma with helping the parties resolve their differences.
Among the issues contested by the rival parties are the
appointments of the central bank governor and the attorney
general, as well as the naming of provincial governors and
removal of a Western travel ban and asset freeze on Mugabe and
his inner circle.
AP/Yinka
