Zimbabwe's opposition accused President Robert Mugabe of abandoning talks aimed at forming a unity government and said he would fail if he tried to rule alone.
State media said Mugabe had announced yesterday he was soon to form a new Cabinet after concluding the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) did not want to take part. Coalition negotiations have been deadlocked over how much control Mugabe should surrender.
Opposition spokesman Nelson Chamisa said today the MDC remained committed to power-sharing talks, but accused Mugabe of "giving a death certificate ... to the talks and negotiations."
"The bottom line is he has to come to the negotiating table and negotiate with the MDC as representatives of the people of the country to find a way forward," Chamisa said.
Among recent steps Mugabe has taken that the opposition says undermine negotiations was the appointment of his loyalists as senators and governors.
The opposition also says Mugabe should not have unilaterally convened parliament yesterday, and accuses him of ordering the arrests of its members to try to regain a parliamentary majority. Police have arrested five opposition politicians allegedly linked to political violence.
While the MDC says Mugabe had no authority to open parliament, the MDC holds the most seats in the house and its members participated in the opening session - subjecting Mugabe to unprecedented heckling on national television.
Chamisa said that if Mugabe unilaterally appointed a cabinet, opposition politicians would simply ignore any attempts it made to introduce legislation. Parliament, which was to reconvene to begin work in October, in the past simply rubber-stamped sweeping legislation drawn up by Mugabe's party.
Parliament's first order of business will be to approve funds for government ministries and projects.
If there is deadlock, Mugabe could dissolve the assembly and rule by decree. It is unlikely the opposition could summon the two-thirds vote needed to impeach him.
Tsvangirai's party holds 100 seats in the 210 seat parliament, Mugabe's party has 99, and an opposition splinter group has 10. An independent who broke away from Mugabe's party won the remaining seat in parliamentary polls on March 29.
The opposition blames Zimbabwe's crisis on Mugabe's increasingly autocratic and corrupt rule.
Zimbabwe began unravelling after Mugabe in 2000 ordered the often-violent seizures of white-owned commercial farms that disrupted the agriculture-based economy. Many of the farms went to cabinet ministers, generals and Mugabe loyalists who let them lie fallow, destroying the country's economic base.
Mugabe has repeatedly blamed his country's woes on European and US sanctions.
More than a third of Zimbabweans depend of foreign food aid but Mugabe has barred charities from handing out the food, charging they were favouring opposition supporters.
Opposition legislators yesterday called on Mugabe to honour his agreement to allow food to be distributed, signed as a prerequisite for the power-sharing talks.
