Zimbabwe opposition boycotts talks

WATCH VIDEO

Source: CCTV.com | 10-21-2008 09:45

Zimbabwe's opposition is boycotting a regional summit, saying leader Morgan Tsvangirai has been unable to obtain a passport.

Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai speaks to supporters at a rally in Harare on October 12.(AFP/File/Desmond Kwande)

Tsvangirai was given a temporary emergency travel document over the weekend, but said he considered that an insult.

Movement for Democratic Change chief negotiator Tendai Biti appeared at a news conference in Johannesburg to announce the boycott.

He said MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai could not travel to Swaziland for a meeting to settle Zimbabwe's political crisis.

He has been unable to obtain a passport from the government of President Robert Mugabe after filling all the pages in his previous one.

Tendai Biti, Movement for Democratic Change, said, "We apologize to President Mswati of Swaziland who is waiting for us, but the real apology should be coming from Robert Mugabe who is imprisoning our president and who is imprisoning the people of Zimbabwe, who wanted a solution yesterday."

President Mugabe arrived in Swaziland on Sunday for the talks, which were called to try to resolve the country's political impasse.

A power-sharing deal between the MDC and Mugabe's Zanu-PF party is deadlocked over control of the country's 31 ministries.

The opposition MDC narrowly won March parliamentary elections in Zimbabwe, and Mugabe's claims of victory in a June presidential runoff have been derided by international observers as a sham.

Editor:Zhang Pengfei