MORGAN Tsvangirai says power-sharing talks with Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe's government have stalled and outside mediation is needed to break the deadlock.
But the Movement for Democratic Change leader insisted yesterday the deal to form a joint unity government could work, saying: "We are confident about the potential of the deal. There is nothing wrong with the deal.
"In the process of implementation, we have hit an impasse, but not on the fundamental contents of the deal," he said.
"We have declared a deadlock and therefore the process cannot move forward except in the presence of the facilitator. We have asked him to come over and he has said he will come over," Tsvangirai said.
Former president Thabo Mbeki was the facilitator who brokered the deal between the longtime political rivals.
Mbeki's spokesman was not immediately available for comment, and Tsvangirai did not mention Mbeki by name.
Tsvangirai defeated Mugabe in a first round of voting in March, but pulled out of a June run-off, citing deadly violence against his supporters.
The two men, along with a breakaway leader from Tsvangirai's MDC, signed the power-sharing deal on September 15.
Under the agreement, 84-year-old Mugabe remains as president while Tsvangirai takes the new post of prime minister.
But efforts to form the government have bogged down over disputes about who will control the most important ministries, such as defence, home affairs and finance.
"On the day we signed the agreement, the people of Zimbabwe breathed a sigh of relief and their hopes for a final resolution of this crisis were raised." Tsvangirai said.
"Unfortunately no progress has been made since then to bring the Zimbabwean people to the beginning of the path of recovery. Instead the economic crisis has worsened.
"We now live in an environment characterised by hunger, starvation and we are days away from seeing people dropping dead on the streets." - Sapa-AFP
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