ZIMBABWE: ZIMBABWE'S RIVAL parties failed to reach a settlement that would end the country's political crisis yesterday, despite the issue being high on the agenda of a regional summit taking place in South Africa over the weekend.
Hopes had been high a deal could be brokered between President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai at the 14-nation South African Development Community (SADC) meeting in Johannesburg, which began on Friday and ended last night.
South African president Thabo Mbeki, the regionally appointed mediator for the Zimbabwe talks, suggested on Saturday that a deal could be reached before the end of the meeting.
SADC's council on security issues also agreed a deal to resolve the crisis could be signed during the summit. These views, however, proved to be overoptimistic.
In an interview with the New York Times, Mr Tsvangirai said the most basic issue of how he and Mr Mugabe would share power remained unsettled, and that "it's better not to have a deal than to have a bad deal".
A South African official close to the negotiations, who asked not to be identified, said remaining sticking points included whether Mr Mugabe would retain the right to appoint and dismiss ministers and how long a transitional government would remain in place.
Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change also wants a clause in any agreement that states that if one of the parties pulls out of the government of national unity, elections would be held within 90 days.
Other areas of contention are the control of Zimbabwe's security forces, and whether there should be an amnesty for those responsible for the widespread post-election violence since March 29th that has left over 120 opposition supporters dead and hundreds more injured.
In his closing address Mr Mbeki said the security council would continue to engage with the leaders of Zimbabwe's political parties even after the summit officially closed.
Over the course of the two-day meeting some of the SADC members publicly stated how they felt the crisis was affecting the region's image.
Zambia's foreign minister, Kabinga Pande, said the events in Zimbabwe had "no doubt left a serious blot on the culture of democracy in our sub region."
Botswana refused to attend the meeting. Last week the country's foreign ministry said Botswana objected to the outcome of Zimbabwe's June 27th run-off because it violated SADC and African Union "core principles."