New push to salvage Zim deal

SOUTHERN African leaders will meet today in a new push to salvage Zimbabwe's stalled unity deal, four months after President Robert Mugabe and rival Morgan Tsvangirai agreed to share power.

SOUTHERN African leaders will meet today in a new push to salvage Zimbabwe's stalled unity deal, four months after President Robert Mugabe and rival Morgan Tsvangirai agreed to share power.

President Kgalema Motlanthe will host the 15-state Southern African Development Community summit in Pretoria after renewed talks to set up a new government failed in Harare last week. The summit takes place as the European Union slaps fresh sanctions on Mugabe's rule .

Regional leaders see the unity agreement, which calls for Mugabe, 84, to remain as president while Tsvangirai becomes prime minister, as the best chance to break Zimbabwe's political standoff.

But the deal is on the verge of collapse over a dispute about which party will control top public posts, including the home affairs ministry which oversees the police.

The unresolved issues sank talks in Harare last Monday. Both parties dug in their heels over the past week, with Mugabe's ruling party refusing to budge on the demands of Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change . - Sapa

The Save Zimbabwe Now movement will hand over a memorandum calling for "peace and justice in Africa, with a focus on Zimbabwe" to the SADC Secretariat at the Union Buildings in Pretoria this morning.