Harare (Zimbabwe), Aug. 28 : Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and his rival Morgan Tsvangirai recently met for a dinner, even as Mugabe announced that he was effectively abandoning power-sharing talks.

The two men met at the five-star Rainbow Towers in Harare shortly after their historic handshake and shared what a close Tsvangirai aide described as an amicable meal. “They got on surprisingly well,” he told The Times.

Another spokesman for Mr Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said: “They didn’t get on like a house on fire but Morgan felt at the time there was common ground between them. But it has evaporated since that only one-on-one meeting and both are now polarised as ever.”

The source said that during the dinner, Tsvangirai repeatedly raised the issue of violence carried out by Mugabe’s army, police, war veterans and youth militia against MDC supporters before the presidential run-off elections in June.

“Mugabe said the violence came from the MDC but Morgan challenged him,” the spokesman said.

“Eventually Mugabe agreed that they should meet again where Morgan could present him with the evidence. It was meant to happen the following Thursday but it never happened. Mugabe became unavailable. Now the old suspicion and antagonism have come back.” (ANI)