Zimbabwe opposition leader blocked from travelling to summit

OHANNESBURG - Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was blocked on Thursday from attending a key regional summit, but said he was "hopeful" talks to resolve the country's political crisis would resume.

"I'm hopeful that the talks will resume," Tsvangirai told AFP by phone after Zimbabwean authorities seized his passport at Harare airport, preventing him flying to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) meet in South Africa.

"The whole thing was going to be determined at this SADC summit," he said.

Passports belonging to other members of his party's leadership were also seized.

"We were all scheduled to go and meet with the troika, the SADC organ on politics and defence. We're not going anymore," Tsvangirai said.

Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change party had earlier issued a statement saying he had been detained along with two other top members of his party at the airport

The MDC leader disputed the reference to a detention, saying that the incident amounted to his passport being seized. He said no reason had been given to him.

"It was the South Africans who invited us and paid for the tickets," Tsvangirai said of the summit, clarifying that he meant the South African government.

His claim could not immediately be confirmed by the Pretoria government.

He declined to discuss details of the power-sharing talks aimed at ending Zimbabwe's political crisis, currently stalled after Tsvangirai said he needed more time to consider a deal agreed by the other main participants, President Robert Mugabe and the leader of a smaller opposition faction, Arthur Mutambara.

The two would have a majority in parliament if they combined forces. The ruling party lost its majority for the first time since independence in recent elections.

The talks' mediator, South African president Thabo Mbeki, conceded after three days of negotiations adjourned on Tuesday that "there is disagreement on one element over which Morgan Tsvangirai had asked for time to reflect."

"We have adjourned to give Morgan Tsvangirai more time to consider these matters," he said.

The talks follow Mugabe's re-election in a June presidential run-off widely condemned as a sham.

Tsvangirai boycotted the run-off despite finishing ahead of Mugabe in the March first round, saying dozens of his supporters had been killed and thousands injured.

Zimbabwe's government mouthpiece the Herald reported on Thursday that Tsvangirai had balked at signing the deal, but was now coming under heavy pressure to do so.

The paper, quoting sources close to the talks, said "Tsvangirai ...would be accommodated in the new government when he was ready to sign."

Mbeki is expected to brief his peers at the 14-nation SADC summit in Johannesburg this weekend.

Trade unions are planning protests against Mugabe's participation in the summit in the absence of a negotiated settlement to the crisis, and Zimbabwe's neighbour Botswana has threatened to boycott the summit if the 84-year-old attends.