Indian Prime minister Manmohan Singh?s government won a vote of confidence in parliament yesterday, ensuring the immediate survival of the ruling coalition and a civilian nuclear deal with the United States. The government won 275 votes against 256 for the opposition, the parliamentary speaker Somnath Chatterjee announced.

Earlier the opposition had demanded the Prime miniser?s resignation anyway after three of its lawmakers said they had been bribed to abstain. The session was angry and chaotic. The debate was briefly adjourned when opposition lawmakers interrupted the debate to wave wads of cash they said were offered as bribes by the government to abstain.

The vote pitted the Congress-led coalition that negotiated the civilian nuclear deal against its former communist allies and opposition parties led by the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). With the vote very close, several MPs who are ill were flown or wheeled in from hospital, and others, in jail for crimes such as murder and extortion, were granted temporary release.

The win means the four-year-old, left-of-centre government will, for the moment, stay in power. It will try and move ahead with a civilian nuclear deal, seen as one of the few legacies of the prime minister. The deal would draw India closer to the West and allow the Asian giant access to foreign civilian nuclear fuel and technology, despite its not signing the Non-Proliferation Treaty and conducting nuclear tests in 1974 and 1998.

<B>Dependence of energy and security policies</B>

It could unlock $40 billion in investment over the next 15 years, according to an Indian business lobby group, as India seeks new energy sources to tap its booming, trillion-dollar economy. But it is unclear whether the prime minister will be able to stay in power until elections scheduled by May 2009, especially if the bribery scandal spirals and involves top government officials.

Investors had hoped the victory would give the government time to battle rising inflation, which has hit the pockets of millions of poor voters, as well as passing some economic reforms in sectors like insurance and pensions. Investors had expected a narrow win for the government, and said the victory could boost markets. The main share index has risen by more than 12 % in the last four sessions. The confidence vote was sparked by the withdrawal of the government?s communist allies to protest the nuclear deal, which they say will make India?s security and energy policies dependent on the US.

Finance minister Chidam-baram, in a speech frequently interrupted by shouting from the opposition benches, defended the government?s record and said nuclear power was vital if the country was to emulate the economic success of China. ?This government under Dr. Manmohan Singh?s leadership is charting out a new path which will end India?s nuclear isolation, which will pave the way for India becoming an economic superpower.?

Despite the parliamentary victory, it is still unclear whether there is enough time for the deal to be passed by US Congress under the Bush administration. The agreement needs clearance from the governors of the UN atomic watchdog and a 45-nation group that controls sensitive nuclear trade.

The government helped secure a parliamentary majority with the support of the regional Samajwadi Party (SP), which replaced the communists as its parliamentary support. The SP will effectively hold the balance of power in India and the party is expected to give the government more room than the communists for economic reforms.

<B>Surojit GUPTA</B>

<B>Zimbabwe crisis talks starts in South Africa

The ruling party and the opposition of Zimbabwe began negotiations yesterday in neighbouring South Africa on a power-sharing deal that could end the country?s political crisis, diplomatic sources said. President Mugabe and Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai signed a deal on Monday that committed the ruling ZANU-PF and two MDC factions to two weeks of talks with South African mediators.

A diplomatic source close to the talks said negotiations began yesterday at an undisclosed venue in South Africa?s capital, Pretoria. The source said neither Mugabe nor Tsvangirai would attend the opening round. An MDC official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: ?There was convergence among all the parties that the dialogue had to start as soon as the MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) was done, hence the resumption of that process today.?

The government and the opposition had been deadlocked over talks since Mugabe was re-elected unopposed on June 27 in a run-off poll boycotted by Tsvangirai because of violence against his supporters. Mugabe blamed the opposition for the bloodshed.

The main goal of the Pretoria talks will be the creation of a government of national unity, though the two sides differ on who should lead it and how long it should stay in power. But analysts said the two-week deadline may be difficult to keep to. «Unfortuna-tely, I am very sceptical. I think it is ambitious to expect a solution in two weeks. Yesterday?s event is a good first step, but the two parties are so polarised it will take nothing short of a miracle to achieve that,? said John Makumbe, political science lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe.

<B>Unbelievable shaking of hands </B>

Pressure on the two sides to share power came from the African Union (AU) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), concerned by the crisis in Zimbabwe that had flooded neighbouring states with millions of refugees.

The European Union (EU) yesterday increased pressure on Mugabe, saying it had agreed more sanctions on Zimbabwe. An EU official said at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels that 37 people and four companies would be added to the EU?s Zimbabwe sanctions list.

The breakthrough between Zimbabwe?s rivals appeared to follow South African President Thabo Mbeki?s agreement late last week to expand the mediation process to include the AU, the UN and other SADC officials. Mbeki had been mediating in the crisis for more than a year and had been increasingly criticised, especially by the MDC, which accused him of taking too soft a line with Mugabe, in power since 1980.

South Africa?s ruling ANC yesterday welcomed the agreement. ?The agreement is one of the most promising developments towards the resolution of the situation in Zimbabwe in the recent past. The ANC urges both parties to build on the foundation established by this agreement and pursue a political arrangement putting the needs and wishes of the Zimbabweans first.?

In Harare, Zimbabweans cautiously welcomed the agreement and a handshake between the rivals at their first meeting in a decade. Newspaper vendors enjoyed brisk business as people thronged to buy the only daily available, the government-controlled Herald, which had a frontpage picture of Mugabe shaking hands with Tsvangirai. ?People have been lining up to buy the paper or at least look at the picture. Many can?t believe that the old man and Tsvangirai sat together, let alone held hands,? said a newspaper vendor.

Tsvangirai had refused to enter formal talks unless government militias stopped violence againt his supporters. He wanted Mugabe to recognise his victory in the first round of the presidential poll. The negotiations are expected to be tense and even acrimonious.

The MDC has accused Mugabe and ZANU-PF of violating human rights and rigging elections. Tsvangirai has been arrested at least half a dozen times by security forces in the past two years and he was beaten along with supporters in an aborted anti-government protest last year. ?This is just the first step on a journey whose duration and success is dependent on the sincerity and good faith of all parties,? Tsvangirai said in a statement yesterday.

<B> Nelson BANYA</B>