Confusion over talks as source says they are not over yet

By Tichaona Sibanda
12 December 2007

The SADC sponsored mediation talks led by South African President Thabo Mbeki are far from over, a highly placed source told Newsreel on Wednesday. He said: ‘It is not true that the talks have ended. Only when President Mbeki says the talks have ended will they genuinely be over.’

On Tuesday journalist Peta Thornycroft said that diplomats she had spoken to indicated that the talks ended after Zanu-PF’s Patrick Chinamasa and Nicholas Goche were called back from Johannesburg to Harare to prepare for the party’s extra-ordinary Congress. She said negotiators left Johannesburg on Monday and the few bits that remain to be sorted would be concluded in Harare.

Thornycroft said electoral amendments and a new Constitution have been agreed to, and all the legal work was done. What were left were details as to the timing. The MDC want a period of 6 months after signing a deal, before elections are held.

But today’s source said that there are a lot of other issues to be discussed and there are fears the talks might drag on into the new year because of delays caused by the Christmas holidays. The secrecy of the talks has been a nightmare for journalists, making it impossible to get any concrete facts.

Asked about Saturday’s deadline the source said; ‘There was never a deadline. But what I can tell you is that a lot of ground has been covered and that all parties will meet soon to try and finalize a deal or if that fails the talks will drag to January. When the time arrives to conclude the talks, President Thabo Mbeki as the facilitator will announce it to the world. As it is the negotiators have not met him yet to draft a summary of an accord that would be given to the negotiating parties.’

On Monday we reported that there were heightened tensions at the ongoing talks among the negotiating parties, who were blaming each other for leaking ‘sensitive’ information to the media.

Another source close to the talks told us that leaks to the media were creating a lot of friction between the negotiating teams, as much of the time was being spent haggling over who was responsible for leaking confidential information.

The one thing that is certain is that Zimbabweans are being kept very much in the dark, about negotiations that are deciding their future.