South African President Thabo Mbeki, left, is welcomed by Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe upon his arrival in Harare, 21 Jul 2008

Zimbabwe's state-run newspaper reports the ruling party has declared President Robert Mugabe's controversial re-election "non-negotiable" in the ongoing power-sharing talks with the opposition.

Friday's edition of The Herald quotes unidentified members of the ruling ZANU-PF as saying the June 27 vote must be respected and is not an item for discussion in the negotiations.

Mr. Mugabe was re-elected as the sole candidate in the runoff vote, after opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew from that race because of what he said was state-sponsored violence against his supporters.

The two-week reconciliation talks between the ruling party and opposition Movement for Democratic Change, MDC, got underway Thursday in Pretoria, South Africa..

The two sides are meeting to work on goals and priorities for a new government, a new constitution, and a plan to implement the changes.

Mr. Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai formally agreed on the reconciliation talks earlier this week.

The U.S. Embassy in Zimbabwe said Friday the United States is reviewing proposed new sanctions against the country.

An embassy spokesman says the sanctions would target those responsible for subverting the will of the Zimbabwean people, those associated with President Mugabe's regime, and those responsible for the country's recent violence and political crisis.

Some information for this report was provided by AP.