Zimbabwe opposition denounces Mugabe's govt plans

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

HARARE (AFP) — Zimbabwe's opposition said Wednesday it will not join any new government with President Robert Mugabe until power-sharing talks are concluded, after the 84-year-old declared he would name his own cabinet.

The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change described Mugabe's intention to form a government regardless of the opposition as "a declaration of war against the people".

Mugabe's move leaves the power-sharing negotiations -- stalled for the past two weeks -- in tatters, and outlines the scale of the task facing mediator Thabo Mbeki, the South African president, to get them back on track.

Mugabe spoke at a lunch Tuesday after the opening of parliament, when he was still apparently rattled by the jeers with which the opposition drowned...