Zimbabwe’s political rivals reached a power-sharing deal Thursday, ending two months of tough negotiations that at one point looked hopelessly leading nowhere. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said there had been a breakthrough in talks with President Robert Mugabe and Arthur Mutambara of a breakaway MDC faction.
“We have got a deal,†Tsvangirai told reporters as he left the Rainbow Towers Hotel in the capital, Harare, where the Zimbabwean protagonists have met for the past four days.
Details of the deal would be announced on Monday when the agreement would be signed.
The talks, which were mediated by South African President Thabo Mbeki, had been deadlocked since July amid difference between Mugabe and Tsvangirai over control of a proposed unity government.
Tsvangirai has demanded powers to run the new government in his proposed role as prime minister while Mugabe opposed any deal that would reduce his control.
The breakthrough in the Zimbabwe crisis talks would pave the way for the announcement of a new cabinet, more than two months after a one-man presidential election run-off won by Mugabe in June but boycotted by Tsvangirai.
The opposition leader had earlier won the first round poll in March but failed to win an absolute majority.
Mugabe had in the past week threatened to name a new cabinet that excludes the MDC if Tsvangirai refused to sign the power-sharing agreement.
Source African Press Agency
