The U.S. government said Monday it was disappointed at the deadlock in power-sharing talks between Zimbabwean rival parties, contributing the impasse to President Robert Mugabe.
The government is "very disappointed by the outcome of the discussions on Zimbabwe" at the summit of Southern African Development Community (SADC) in Johannesburg, South Africa, said Robert Wood, deputy spokesman for U.S. State Department.
At the summit, the SADC leaders voiced support to the historic power-sharing agreement between Mugabe's ruling party of ZANU-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by Morgan Tsvangirai.
Also, the SADC leaders proposed the two parties to share the power of Home Affairs Ministry, which was seen by the two rivals as a battleground ministry in the future unity government they committed to form under the power sharing agreement.
"The proposal, ... is just another example of the Mugabe regime's attempt to subvert the will of the Zimbabwean people, ... What we want to see is true, substantive power sharing negotiations so that they can agree on a cabinet so that Zimbabweans can feel they have a future," said Wood.
"If he continues to subvert the will of the people, then we will have to look at additional measures," the spokesman added, hinting more possible sanctions would be taken by the U.S. government against Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabwe's ruling party ZANU-PF and the opposition MDC, under growing domestic, regional and international pressure, hammered out a power-sharing deal on Sept. 15, which is widely seen as the only cure of the country's long running economic and political crisis.
But they have since then sharply bickered over which ministries each side will control.
The bickering, mainly centered on control of the powerful ministries of defense, home affairs, finance, information, local government and justice, now threatens the power-sharing agreement painstakingly brokered by former South African President Thabo Mbeki over several months on behalf of the African Union (AU) and SADC.
The MDC leader Tsvangirai accuses President Mugabe of attempting to take all the key ministries, leaving his partners in the proposed coalition government with inconsequential cabinet portfolios.
Tsvangirai has vowed never to accept skewed sharing of power, threatening to pull out of the proposed unity government in which he has been designated prime minister, while Mugabe president.
Source:Xinhua
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