The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Johannesburg

Power-sharing talks between Zimbabwe's opposition and negotiators for President Robert Mugabe have broken off, officials said Monday. One said the talks stalled over Mugabe's insistence that he remain president.

Two officials said the chief negotiators for Mugabe - Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa and Social Welfare Minister Nicholas Goche - were flying home. They were expected to consult Mugabe about their mandate, one of the officials said.

Another official, in South Africa, said opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai had left the country and was driving to Pretoria, the South African capital where the talks were held, to consult with his negotiators.

The officials - all close to the power-sharing talks - insisted on anonymity because all parties agreed to a media blackout during the talks, which began Thursday.

Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change won most votes in the first round of elections in March, but Tsvangirai pulled out of a June runoff following months of escalating state-sponsored violence.

Mugabe ran alone and declared himself winner, but the election was widely discredited internationally as a sham.

The biggest obstacle to any agreement always was who would lead a new government.

Tsvangirai has said that an agreeable settlement must recognize only his victory in the March elections. Mugabe, who has survived years of attempts to oust him even by his own party, insists he should head any government.