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HARARE-A solution to Zimbabwe's crisis could be months or even years away despite President Robert Mugabe's public promise, under heavy international pressure, to negotiate with the opposition.Mugabe suffered unprecedented African and world censure after his refusal to call off a presidential vote in which he was re-elected as the sole candidate last week following opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai's withdrawal.The African Union called for talks leading to a unity government and the West is preparing new sanctions against Mugabe's entourage because of violence which the opposition Movement for Democratic Change says killed 86 supporters.Analysts said however that Mugabe is far from surrendering the power he has held since independence from Britain in 1980."Anyone who thinks Mugabe or (his ruling) ZANU-PF are on their way out or about to surrender, will be surprised that we are into a long game," said Lovemore Madhuku, a political analyst and chairman of National Constitutional Assembly (NCA)."Yes, there is pressure but Mugabe clearly went into this for strategic reasons, to ease pressure on his government and to get some breathing space," he said."I think his strategy is to wear the opposition down, make a few concessions, but he is not going to do anything that substantially changes or threatens the ZANU-PF order," Madhuku said.Some analysts say Mugabe and ZANU-PF might still want to strike a deal with the opposition before South African President Thabo Mbeki leaves office next year.To read more go to:
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