Arrests as protesters demand cabinet impasse resolution

• Mbeki 'very optimistic' of Zimbabwe deal

• SADC leaders in Harare, seek end to cabinet impasse

• Motlanthe tells Tsvangirai to end boycott

• Tsvangirai performs U-turn on SADC summit

• Janah Ncube: patience with Mugabe, Tsvangirai wearing thin

• War veterans threaten action against Tsvangirai

• Zuma slams 'weird' move to deny Tsvangirai passport

• Solved: how Zimbabwe parties can fairly share ministries

• SADC summit postponed, moved to Harare

• Tsvangirai snubs King's offer to fly him to summit

Posted to the web: 27/10/2008 15:33:33
ABOUT 50 people were arrested Monday in Zimbabwe as they tried to march toward the hotel where African leaders are holding talks in a bid to rescue a troubled power-sharing deal, activists said.

About 100 students and activists from the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, an umbrella body of rights organisations, marched from downtown Harare toward the Rainbow Towers hotel, said the group's spokesman Thabani Moyo.

But police blocked the protesters' march about 300 metres (yards) from the hotel, Moyo told AFP.

"The police fired teargas cannisters and chased away students," Moyo said, adding that about 50 people were arrested and taken to Harare's central police station.

Police could not be reached for comment.

The coalition on Sunday had issued a statement demanding that President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai resolve their differnces over the unity accord during the summit Monday.

"Conclude the talks. We are dying of hunger," the statement said.

The two rivals signed a power-sharing deal six weeks ago, but the talks have become bogged down over disputes about which party should control the most important ministries.

South African President Kgalema Motlanthe and other key regional leaders are in Harare to pressure both sides into breaking their impasse.

The unity accord is seen as Zimbabwe's best hope for ending months of political turmoil and piecing together the shattered economy, which is saddled with the world's highest rate of inflation at 231 million percent. - AFP
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