Date:05/09/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/09/05/stories/2008090553481600.htm

International

Mugabe’s ultimatum

HARARE: President Robert Mugabe will name his own Cabinet if his opposition does not sign onto a power-sharing deal on Thursday, a state-owned newspaper reported. The opposition expressed concern that Mr. Mugabe was turning his back on talks. “We are a government, and we are a government that is empowered by elections,” The Herald, a governing party mouthpiece, quoted Mr. Mugabe as telling reporters in Zambia. He was there for the funeral of Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa. “So we should form a Cabinet. We will not allow a situation where we will not have a Cabinet forever.

The two sides have remained at odds on the question of who should have ultimate authority in any unity government.— AP