Zimbabwe parties edge closer to talks on power deal

ZIMBABWE'S main opposition party yesterday agreed to talks about power-sharing with Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF.

The breakthrough came after South African president Thabo Mbeki's long-term mediation efforts were downgraded in favour of wider arbitration involving the United Nations, the African Union and the Southern African Development Community.

Morgan Tsvangirai, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader who has accused Mr Mbeki of pro-Mugabe bias, had demanded extra oversight in any talks between the MDC and Mugabe.

Having previously refused to consider talks, Mr Tsvangirai relented after crisis meetings between African and UN officials, which resulted in the replacement of Mr Mbeki's failed, eight-year, one-man mediation with a strengthened four-man team.

Haile Menkerios, assistant secretary-general for political affairs, will represent the UN.

The 53-nation African Union will be represented by AU Commission chairman Jean Ping.

George Chikoti is an unusual choice to represent the 14-nation Southern African Development Community: a former follower of rebel guerrilla chief Jonas Savimbi, Mr Chikoti is now Angola's deputy foreign minister. Mr Mbeki will also join the four-man team.

Mr Menkerios said he expected a memorandum of understanding setting out the parameters of the talks to be signed today in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, by Mr Tsvangirai and Mugabe.

The memorandum is understood to set out conditions for talks about talks, containing procedures, a clear agenda and a time frame in which talks are to be completed.

Welcoming the development Nelson Chamisa, the MDC's chairman, said: "(The mediation process] eliminated our discomfort zone. We now have the courage to put the next foot forward.

What is required now is for Zanu-PF to desist from acts of bad faith, including continuing acts of violence and attempts to sow division in our party by trying to buy people."

Mr Tsvangirai won a presidential election on 29 March, but without the requisite 50 per cent plus one vote majority.

He refused to take part in a run-off election on 27 June after more than 120 of his supporters were killed in an orgy of violence by Mugabe's party militias.

Some 4,000 people were hospitalised and tens of thousands made homeless.

Mugabe, 84, declared himself president unopposed for another five years.

Should the talks produce a negotiated settlement, Zimbabwe could attract billions of pounds from donors in recovery aid.

Among others, Britain has promised £1 billion, the United States £800 million, the UN Development Programme £400 million and the European Union £200 million.

Zimbabwe's full reconstruction will cost multiples of these amounts. The bulk of earmarked rescue money carries stringent conditions and a proviso that Mugabe steps down from absolute power.

Some four million of Zimbabwe's 12 million population have fled to other countries, mainly to South Africa and Botswana.

Millions in misery as $100 billion banknote reveals extent of inflation

ZIMBABWE will today introduce a $100 billion banknote – enough to buy one loaf of bread.

The new banknote is worth about 62p.

Central bank chief Gideon Gono said the note was being brought in to help consumers who have to pay huge amounts of cash for the smallest transactions. Previously, the highest-denomination note was Z$50 billion.

Dr Gono, who is Robert Mugabe's personal banker, admitted last week that annual inflation in Zimbabwe had hit 2.2 million per cent. Privately, economists claim the figure is closer to 12 million per cent.

Prices have soared since Mugabe, 84, claimed victory in last month's sham election, bringing misery to millions of Zimbabweans.

This weekend an egg cost Z$30 billion (18p). A pint of milk cost Z$240 billion (£1.50). Teachers earn less than Z$100 billion a month.

A trillion dollars will buy a box of cornflakes or a Zimbabwean passport. House prices are quoted in quadrillions of dollars.

Mugabe blames international sanctions for Zimbabwe's economic meltdown. The UN Security Council was unable to apply sanctions last month due to a veto by Russia and China.

Russian company Afritrade funded the procurement of thousands of cut-price hampers of goods being handed out to villagers by Mugabe last week.

Hunger levels have reached an all-time high since Mugabe banned humanitarian agencies ahead of the second round of presidential elections on 27 June.

Middle-class mothers in the eastern city of Mutare spoke yesterday of children "crying" for food. "We have nothing, no flour, no bread," a grandmother said.