Mbeki confident about Zim talks
October 09 2007 at 12:55PM
President Thabo Mbeki was confident that the talks between Zimbabwe's political parties to find a solution to the crisis in that country were progressing well.
His spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga was reacting to questions about threats from Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) that it would pull out of the South African-brokered talks if violence against it was not halted.
"On Friday the president told (German) Chancellor (Angela) Merkel that it was going well - this has not changed," Ratshitanga told Sapa.
He did not want to go into details as Mbeki and his team said previously that it would not discuss the facilitation process in public.
"Those negotiations are going very well and indeed there is a common determination to conclude them as quickly as possible so as to allow enough time to implement all of the matters that they must implement," Mbeki said on Friday during a joint press conference with Merkel, who was on an official visit to South Africa.
Associated Press reported on Tuesday that a senior member of the MDC had said that Zimbabweans were still being beaten and killed by President Mugabe's militias despite negotiations between his government and opposition parties.
MDC secretary for international affairs Sekai Holland said the talks brokered by Mbeki would collapse if the violence didn't stop.
"As I speak today, another 64-year-old was beaten to death by the same squad that beat me up," said Holland, a victim of an attack on MDC members in March who is visiting New Zealand at the invitation of the minority Green Party.
"We support the Mbeki initiative ... but if Mugabe continues to beat our people up we are pulling out of the talks," Holland said.
She said the MDC, Zimbabwe's main opposition party, was calling on the international community to intervene, stop the violence against opposition supporters and recognise the extent of the nation's humanitarian crisis.
"Everybody knows Zimbabweans are starving to death," Holland told reporters.
"The situation is disgusting ... people suspected of supporting us are being kidnapped, beaten and killed," she said. - Sapa
