Robert Mugabe says he'll never surrender

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe is expected to get the green light from his Zanu-PF party to form a government with or without the opposition, party officials said. This move would likely finish off a fragile power-sharing pact which has been deadlocked for months while the parties have fought over control of key cabinet posts. Analysts had seen the pact as the best hope for averting total collapse in Zimbabwe, where inflation has soared and a cholera epidemic has killed more than 1,100 people. Mr Mugabe said on Friday that he had invited Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), to be sworn in as prime minister in a shared government under the September 15 pact. But the MDC denied it had received an invitation, and the leader said on Friday talks on a unity government could collapse over abductions of MDC supporters which he blamed on Mr Mugabe's party. Zanu-PF officials said it would end its annual conference with a resolution urging Mr Mugabe to urgently form a government. The president is due to address a conference later. A senior Zanu-PF official said: "The conference will resolve that President Mugabe implement the November SADC resolution to immediately form a government, most probably in the next week. "We have waited for too long and our people are impatient and suffering. With or without the MDC, the government will have to be formed," the official said.

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ITN | December 20, 2008

Tags:. .cholera. .powersharing. .mdc. .deadlocked. .averting