Mugabe says crisis talks blocked

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Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has said power-sharing talks are once more deadlocked, despite earlier optimism about a deal.

Talking to local leaders in Bulawayo, Mr Mugabe indicated he would not hand executive powers to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Mr Mugabe also repeated an earlier threat to form a cabinet with or without the opposition.

The power-sharing talks are continuing in the capital, Harare.

Speaking in Bulawayo, Mr Mugabe said he would not let MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai become prime minister because Mr Tsvangirai was demanding executive powers, a BBC contributor in the city reported.

"We have not gone anywhere," Mr Mugabe said. "We are still stuck at the same point where those from the Movement for Democratic Change still want to govern."

"They want Mugabe to go," he added. "Where should I go? I can't go anywhere."

Zimbabwe's state-run Herald newspaper said the prospects of a deal being signed this week were "slim".

The Herald cited insiders at the talks suggesting that there had been little progress on Wednesday.

But after the talks then there had been cautious optimism about a deal.

"We are hopeful of signing tomorrow," Mr Mugabe had told reporters as he emerged from Wednesday's talks.

Mr Tsvangirai said at the time that "very little is left".

Stop-start process

South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki has stayed in Harare to mediate in the talks, which had resumed on Monday, delaying a summit in Swaziland.

Correspondents say it is very hard to predict when and if a deal will be reached, there have been so many hitches in this eight-week, stop-start process.

Sources in Mr Tsvangirai's MDC say they are now proposing that he be named prime minister, with full authority over all the ministers, while Mr Mugabe chairs a new National Security Council.

Mr Mugabe has threatened to form a government alone if no deal is reached

This would mean he kept some authority over the security forces.

Several Zimbabwean security chiefs have said they would refuse to take orders from Mr Tsvangirai, who they see as being a Western stooge.

The MDC and human rights groups have accused the army of spearheading a campaign of violence against opposition activists ahead of June's presidential run-off.

Donors have been withholding aid to rescue the collapsing economy until the opposition are given real power in government.

Talks between the government and the MDC in August broke down after they agreed that Mr Tsvangirai would be named prime minister while Mr Mugabe remained president, but failed to agree on how to share powers.

The MDC leader gained more votes than Mr Mugabe in March's presidential election but official results say he did not pass the 50% threshold for outright victory.

Mr Tsvangirai pulled out of the June run-off, saying some 200 of his supporters had been killed and 200,000 forced from their homes in a campaign of violence led by the army and supporters of Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF.

Zanu-PF has denied the claims and accuses the MDC of both exaggerating the scale of the violence and being responsible for it.