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PRETORIA : Zimbabwe's ruling party and opposition held talks in South Africa on Thursday for the first time since Robert Mugabe's one-man election ahead of an expected UN vote on new international sanctions.
As the UN Security Council prepared to take up a proposal targeting Mugabe's regime, sources close to both Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change said negotiators for the parties had travelled to South Africa.
A separate source close to the negotiations said talks involving ZANU-PF and both MDC factions - the party's main branch and a breakaway one - were underway on Thursday.
"The two left yesterday, therefore talks should have started today," a source close to ZANU-PF said of the party's negotiators.
MDC chief negotiator Tendai Biti travelled to South Africa early Thursday, said a party source who described the discussions as preparatory ahead of negotiations following the widely denounced election that handed a new presidential term to Mugabe.
Biti, who faces treason charges, left Harare after a Zimbabwean court eased his bail conditions and released his passport.
"The secretary general left this morning, but I am not exactly sure when the talks are due to take place," said the MDC source on condition of anonymity.
MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa would not confirm whether the party's number two was attending talks, saying only that preliminary consultations were to take place soon.
"These are just consultations about dialogue. Objectives of that dialogue need to be put in place," said Chamisa.
South African President Thabo Mbeki has been seeking a negotiated solution to Zimbabwe's crisis, though he has faced criticism over his quiet diplomacy approach.
G8 leaders meeting in Japan this week called for a special envoy to assist in mediatio efforts, while also rejecting the legitimacy of Mugabe's government and threatening further sanctions against his regime.
Several diplomats told AFP that the vote on sanctions at the UN Security Council was expected on Thursday.
The US draft provides for an assets freeze and a travel ban on Mugabe and 13 of his inner circle as well as an arms embargo on the Harare regime.
It would also demand that the Harare government "begin without delay a substantive dialogue between the parties with the aim of arriving at a peaceful solution that reflects the will of the Zimbabwean people as expressed by the March 29 (first-round presidential) elections."
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai finished ahead of Mugabe in the March 29 first round of the election, but officially fell short of an outright majority.
He pulled out of the June 27 run-off five days ahead of the poll, citing rising violence against his supporters that left dozens dead and thousands injured.
A number of African governments, including South Africa, have rejected the push for further sanctions, saying it will only worsen the situation, and have instead called for dialogue.
Russia, one of the five veto-wielding permanent members of the UN Security Council, has also signalled its objections to sanctions, with Ambassador Vitaly Churkin warning that rushing a vote could have "unpredictable" consequences.
US Ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad has however said he was confident his sanctions draft resolution had the necessary votes in the 15-member council to ensure passage, adding he did not anticipate a veto.
Thursday's talks came as researchers released a report saying a national unity government was the best solution to Zimbabwe's political crisis, while highlighting the difficulties in reaching a deal.
"Realising that the post-election reality is that no one party in Zimbabwe can rule the country within a democratic context, the mediation has to move speedily to broker a sustainable executive power-sharing arrangement," said the joint report by the Pretoria-based Human Sciences Research Council and Nairobi's Africa Policy Institute.
The arrangement should lead to a "government of national unity", the report said, adding that "the Mbeki-led mediation has an uphill task to create an arrangement that reflects Zimbabwe's challenges and realities." - AFP/de
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