Media blackout alarms journalists

Journalists in Zimbabwe are seething with anger at a blanket ban on negotiators talking to the media while talks are under way between President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, MDC.

The talks, scheduled to last a fortnight, opened in Pretoria, South Africa on July 24, but the memorandum of understanding signed three days earlier made it clear the dialogue was to remain confidential.

Clause 8 of the document says specifically states that as long as the talks are going on, neither side should “directly or indirectly communicate the substance of the discussion” to the media, nor should they use the media as a negotiating platform.

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