ZIMBABWE:ZIMBABWEAN president Robert Mugabe's decision to reconvene parliament next Tuesday jeopardises the ongoing powersharing talks between the country's rival parties, said a senior opposition member yesterday.
Since talks adjourned last Sunday, following a regional summit at which Zimbabwe's political crisis was top of the agenda, fears have been growing that Mr Mugabe intends to appoint a new cabinet once he has assembled the country's parliamentarians elected last March in the general election.
The 84-year-old left the summit under a dark cloud after opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai refused to sign a power-sharing agreement because it ceded too much power to his long-time adversary.
Under Zimbabwe's constitution, once parliamentarians take up their posts the president can begin the process of appointing a cabinet.
However, Mr Mugabe's re-election following the presidential runoff in June is disputed by Mr Tsvangirai who won the first round, but not by a majority. He dropped out of the second round head-to-head because of state- sponsored violence in which 120 opposition supporters died. While the opposition holds a majority 100 seats in parliament to the ruling regime's 99, a breakaway opposition faction holds the balance of power with 10 seats.
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) secretary general Tendai Biti said a decision to reconvene parliament can only be made by consensus, according to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed with the Zanu-PF party on July 21st, which paved the way for the talks.
"In the present case, the MDC has not consented to the convening of the parliament," Mr Biti said in a statement.
He added: "Any decision to convene parliament will be a clear repudiation of the MOU, and an indication beyond reasonable doubt of Zanu PF's unwillingness to continue to be part of the talks."
Since the end of last Sunday's South African Development Community summit in Johannesburg Mr Tsvangirai has been touring the region canvassing support for his party's stance and warning leaders about the severity of the country's humanitarian crisis.
Up to two million Zimbabweans face chronic food shortages next month if the ruling regime continues to stop aid agencies from delivering food to vulnerable people across the country.
Non-governmental organisations were banned by government from assisting the population in the weeks leading up to the June runoff, for allegedly canvassing for the opposition ahead of the poll.
Despite the decision to talk, the humanitarian ban has, for the most part, remained in place - although some agencies have been allowed to run school-based child-feeding programmes, and provide medical aid for people with the HIV virus.
The United Nation's World Food Programme regional spokesperson Richard Lee told The Irish Timesthat this year's bad harvest coupled with an ongoing ban on NGO activity would leave 5.1 million people, or nearly half the population, in need of food aid by next January.
"We are completely reliant on the aid agencies to roll out the feeding programmes in the rural areas. Due to the bad harvest this year around two million people will need assistance by the end of next month, so we urge the government to lift the ban," Mr Lee said.
Many observers believe Zanu-PF is trying to use its control of food delivery as a weapon to force Mr Tsvangirai into a deal that leaves their leader's powers intact. But the MDC has maintained it will only sign up to a deal that puts Mr Tsvangirai in charge of government.
The food crisis has been exacerbated by the country's worsening economic situation. The state released official figures this week that showed the annual inflation rate at 11.2 million per cent - up 9 million per cent on last May's rate.