HARARE // The Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe would have amnesty from prosecution and a ceremonial role in government under a draft settlement to resolve the country's crisis, a newspaper reported. The Leader of the opposition party the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Morgan Tsvangirai, would run the country as the executive prime minister and appoint two deputies, including one from his own party and another from Mr Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF, The Star reported, saying it had obtained a copy of the draft.
The transitional government would be in place temporarily and lead to fresh elections, according to the paper. Mr Mugabe would remain president, but with diminished powers, and would be honoured as "founding president" upon his retirement after the transitional government ends, it said. The time frame for the transitional government was still being debated, according to the report. It added that the South African president Thabo Mbeki, mediator for the Zimbabwe talks, would facilitate a face-to-face meeting on the draft between Mr Tsvangirai and Mr Mugabe in Harare tomorrow.
Mr Mbeki's spokesman and officials from the two parties have refused all comment on details of the talks. Zimbabwe's political crisis intensified after a one-man election in June that handed Mr Mugabe a sixth term as president. Mr Tsvangirai, who finished ahead of Mr Mugabe in the March first round of the vote, pulled out of the June runoff days ahead of the poll, citing rising violence against his supporters.
*AFP
