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August 16, 2008

Pressure Builds on Zimbabwe Power-Sharing Talks
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=1DB9EE6:A6F02AD83191E16049C0B12E0BEA9C5DF47489ACC27D21EE&
 
Zimbabwe's president and top opposition leader attend regional summit in
South Africa 
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe is seen at opening ceremony of 28th
summit of SADC heads of state and government in Sandton, South Africa,
16 Aug 2008Zimbabwe's president and top opposition leader attended a
regional
summit in South Africa Saturday where they face rising pressure to
conclude a power-sharing agreement. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe
and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai both attended the opening of the
summit. Both
sides are keeping quiet about renewed talks. But an official with
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change, Tendai Biti, said
power-sharing negotiations, which broke down earlier this week, have
resumed
on the sidelines of the summit. Officials close to the negotiations have
suggested an agreement could be reached before the two-day summit wraps
up. Zimbabwe's
protracted political crisis is high on the agenda for the 14-nation
Southern African Development Community summit in Johannesburg. Botswanan
President Ian Khama is boycotting the meeting because of Mr. Mugabe's
presence. Botswana
does not recognize Mr. Mugabe's election and the boycott highlights
increasing pressure from African nations on Mr. Mugabe's ZANU-PF party
and opposition groups to reach an agreement. Arthur Mutambara, leader of
a second opposition group in Zimbabwe, is attending the meeting. Earlier
this week, three marathon sessions failed to produce a power sharing
deal. Mr.
Mugabe was declared the winner of a June 27th run-off election that
many international observers dismissed as a sham. Opposition leader
Tsvangirai pulled out of the election, citing state-sponsored attacks
against his supporters.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.


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