Harare - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's party said Monday Morgan Tsvangirai's failure to attend a regional summit on the political impasse in Zimbabwe showed he was "not interested" in sharing power with the elderly strongman leader. Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) announced earlier he would not be travelling to Swaziland for talks with the three-country security organ of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), chaired by Swazi King Mswati III.
Mugabe is already in Swaziland for Monday's meeting, at which former South African president Thabo Mbeki will report back on his failed attempt last week to bridge the divide between Mugabe and Tsvangirai on the formation of a unity government.
The MDC said Tsvangirai would not be attending because he did not receive the necessary travel documents on time.
The MDC also made clear they wanted a full crisis summit of all 15 SADC members - and not just the three-country security grouping - to try to resolve the deadlock.
The two parties appeared far apart Monday on the sticking point of the sharing of ministries, with both sides accusing the other of holding out on a much-hoped-for new dawn in Zimbabwean politics.
"There is nothing surprising from his boycott. That is what he (Tsvangirai) is good at. But it shows the world who is not interested in having the stalemate addressed," Bright Matonga, a spokesman for Mugabe's Zanu-PF said.
"He had a document to make him travel legally and safely to Swaziland but he chose not to go.
Mugabe's government has not renewed Tsvangirai's passport since it expired in July. They did issue him with an emergency travel document to travel to Swaziland but he did not get permission on time from South Africa on time to pass through en route to the mountain kingdom.
