Berlin - Zimbabwean prime minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai said Thursday he was confident of an end to the political impasse holding up the formation of a government of national unity. Speaking after talks with German officials, he said this would come after issues relating to the definition of the prime minister's powers and the allocation of government ministries had been resolved.
"We will find a solution. It may take some time, but we will find a solution. The position of President Robert Mugabe is untenable," he said in an interview with Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
Tsvangirai, who wrested the title of prime minister from Mugabe's ruling party after the opposition won the first parliamentary majority in nearly 30 years, was in Germany to campaign for more support for his country.
Tsvangirai's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has been in tough negotiations for months, with the assistance of regional leaders, over the makeup of a new government.
But the talks have stalled over who should have control of the home affairs ministry, which is responsible for the police, and whether the president or the prime minister would have the power to dismiss ministers.
On September 15, former South African president Thabo Mbeki got Mugabe, Tsvangirai and MDC breakaway faction leader Arthur Mutambara to sign up to a deal to govern together.
But the deal is on the verge of collapse, as Tsvangirai accuses Mugabe of grabbing all the key ministries for his party, including home affairs, foreign affairs and defence.
"We have a deal that offers the people of Zimbabwe the chance of transparency and transition. It is up to Mugabe to stick to it," he said. "We have compromised enough."
German Foreign Ministry official Reinhard Silberberg said after the talks with Tsvangirai that Zimbabwe urgently needed to make a new start, both politcally and economically.
He urged Mugabe's party to play a constructive role in the negotiations.
Mugabe, who has led the southern African country since independence from Britain in 1980, has stayed in power using a combination of farm and business seizures to keep supporters happy and brute police and mob terror to silence critics.
The policies have reduced the one-time bread-basket of southern Africa to a mere shadow of its former thriving self.
Germany announced it was donating another 500,000 euros (625,000 dollars) in humanitarian aid to help people overcome the effects of food shortages and lack of medicine.
