Harare - Nigerian leader Olusegun Obasanjo should not have appointed a mediator to broker inter-party talks in Zimbabwe as they will not take place, a Zimbabwean cabinet minister was quoted as saying on Tuesday.
A day before a key Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit of regional leaders in neighbouring Botswana, acting Information Minister Chen Chimutengwende told the state-controlled Herald newspaper that the push by outsiders for talks between President Robert Mugabe's ruling party and the main opposition party was "irresponsible".
Chimutengwende told Zimbabwe's state-controlled Herald newspaper that there was "no point" in Obasanjo appointing former Mozambican president Joaquim Chissano as a mediator "because there will be no talks".
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Last week the African Union, which Obasanjo chairs, confirmed that Chissano had been appointed to mediate in talks between Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by Morgan Tsvangirai in a bid to end five years of political deadlock.
But Chimutengwende told the Herald: "It is highly irresponsible to expect the government and Zanu-PF to help Tsvangirai in promoting his own agenda in politics.".
"The government of Zimbabwe and Zanu-PF also do not recognise the MDC as an independent and patriotic party. It is a puppet party that is sponsored by our foreign enemies. It is not worth negotiating with."
At the summit, Mugabe is likely to seek solidarity from his neighbours in view o of Obasanjo's efforts to foster political dialogue within Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe is politically divided between the ruling party and the MDC, which claims to have lost three elections in the past five years as a result of violence and intimidation against its supporters as well as electoral fraud.
Mugabe's government denies the charges and accuses the MDC of trying to ratchet up international pressure to ease its way into power.
"Tsvangirai wants to achieve through negotiations and compromise what he failed to get through the ballot box," Chimutengwende said.
The opposition accuses 81-year old Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe for a quarter of a century, of pursuing policies that have spawned economic and social crises include deepening levels of poverty, triple digit inflation and chronic shortages of food, fuel and power.
Mugabe said last week he wanted to talk to British Prime Minister Tony Blair whom he accuses of being behind the opposition party.
He said those calling for direct talks between his party and the MDC were "misdirected". - Sapa-dpa
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