Zimbabwe’s leaders fail to reach agreement

Zimbabwe’s unlikely political partners have admitted their power-sharing talks have failed. President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai are to turn to their southern African neighbours to sort out their differences over who should get power over what in their unity government.

“We are hoping that the Southern African Development Community troika which is meeting on Monday, we can all go there and present our positions, but this is all an attempt to find finality to this issue, so that we can form a government,” said Tsvangirai.

The dispute centres on how the ministerial portfolios should be shared out between the two former arch enemies. President Mugabe is demanding all the main ones. Even the presence of former South African President Thabo Mbeki as mediator — the man who cemented their partnership in the first place — could not break four days of deadlock.

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