Talks between Zimbabwean factions 'have resumed'

Zimbabwe’s ruling party and the opposition resumed talks today aimed at resolving the country’s violent political crisis, an official said.

South African President Thabo Mbeki has been mediating on-again, off-again talks for more than a year, and his spokesman, Mukoni Ratshitanga, said a new round had begun. “They started talking this morning” in South Africa, Ratshitanga said.

Bright Matonga, a spokesman for Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe’s government, also said talks between Mugabe’s party and the opposition had resumed in South Africa.

Opposition spokesman Nelson Chamisa, speaking by telephone from Harare, Zimbabwe, referred questions to Tendai Biti, the opposition’s chief negotiator, who did not return calls.

The opposition has been denying reports that talks were set to resume – even after a court hearing on Wednesday at which Biti’s lawyer told a judge that Biti needed to have his passport returned so he could go to South Africa for the talks.

The judge ordered the return of the passport, which Biti had been forced to surrender when he was arrested during Zimbabwe’s recent election campaign and charged with treason.

The dispute between the opposition and Mugabe’s party has grown more bitter since Mugabe claimed victory in a June 27 presidential runoff election in which he was the only candidate. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out of the race because of widespread violence against his supporters.

Tsvangirai’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change had said talks could not begin until violence blamed on Mugabe supporters ended and a mediator was named in addition to Mbeki.

Mugabe’s party, meanwhile, has shown increasing eagerness to start talks, apparently in the hope of persuading UN Security Council members to reject a US-drafted resolution to impose sanctions on Mugabe and some of his top political and security officials. The council was expected to vote on the resolution this week.

Both sides have indicated a willingness to form a coalition government, but differ on who should lead it. Mugabe’s ZANU-PF wants Mugabe at the head, something the opposition and Mugabe’s critics in the West have rejected.

“President Mugabe is the president of Zimbabwe for the next five years,” Matonga said today, making clear ZANU-PF remained committed to its position on Mugabe.