Mbeki denies deadlock in Zimbabwe power-sharing talks

Mbeki denies deadlock in Zimbabwe power-sharing talks

JOHANNESBURG, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Former South African President Thabo Mbeki denied late Friday that Zimbabwe's power-sharing talks had hit a deadlock, saying negotiations would continue next week in Swaziland.

"The negotiations are continuing. I wouldn't say there is a deadlock," the South African Press Association quoted Mbeki as saying in his first public remarks on the four days of talks.

He said that talks would continue on Monday in Swaziland with the three nations known as the Troika, which make up a security panel of the Southern African Development Community.

Mbeki brokered the power-sharing deal signed one month ago by Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, calling for the formation of a unity government to end months of deadly political turmoil.

The former president insisted that he remained optimistic about the proposed unity government, saying the remaining matters in dispute "are capable of solving themselves quite easily."