HARARE, July 25: Zimbabwe’s ruling party has resolved that President Robert Mugabe’s controversial re-election is a “non-negotiable” issue in ongoing talks with the opposition in South Africa, state media said on Friday.

Citing unnamed party insiders, The Herald said ZANU-PF’s politburo declared at a meeting in Harare on Wednesday that the outcome of the June 27 ballot which was boycotted by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai had to be respected.

“The meeting noted that there has to be a figure who appoints the all-inclusive government envisaged in the memorandum of understanding signed on Monday,” said the report.

“And that figure is President Mugabe who won the run-off,” the government mouthpiece added.

An unnamed source was quoted by the paper as saying that “there has to be a figure who creates the all-inclusive government”.

Mugabe and Tsvangirai inked a memorandum of understanding earlier this week to pave the way for the fully-fledged talks that opened in Pretoria on Thursday aimed at ending the country’s months-long political and economic woes.

Tsvangirai pushed Mugabe into second place in the first round of voting on March 29 but he pulled out of the June 27 run-off presidential election after a wave of deadly attacks against his supporters.

Tsvangirai believes the outcome of the March ballot should be the starting point for any negotiations on power-sharing, while Mugabe has previously insisted that his re-election must be respected.

Sanctions: The United States on Friday expanded sanctions against the “illegitimate” government of Zimbabwe due to ongoing political violence, President George W. Bush said in a statement.

“Today I have signed a new Executive Order that expands our sanctions against the illegitimate Government of Zimbabwe,” Bush said.

The sanctions target entities and individuals linked to repression and corruption carried out by President Robert Mugabe’s government, he said.

“This action is a direct result of the Mugabe regime’s continued politically-motivated violence, disregarding calls from the Southern African Development Community, the African Union, and the United Nations to halt the attacks,” the president said.

“No regime should ignore the will of its own people and calls from the international community without consequences.”

The moves comes as Mugabe’s ZANU-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change hold power-sharing talks in South Africa after months of deadly violence.

—AFP