Zimbabwe Power-sharing Gets Off to False Start

Zimbabwe's leaders today failed to agree on how to divide up the cabinet under a power-sharing agreement that was supposed to end the country's political crisis.

"The meeting was inconclusive, it was a deadlock and has been referred to the negotiating teams for further work to try and find common ground," said Nelson Chamisa, a spokesman for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.

President Robert Mugabe and the leaders of the two MDC factions - the would-be prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara - left the talks today without agreement. Negotiations are to resume on Saturday.

The three men signed up on Tuesday to split a 31-member cabinet between the three parties. Zanu-PF was to have 15 ministries, while the two factions of the MDC would hold 16.

Ahead of the meeting, state media quoted Mugabe as describing power-sharing as a humiliation. "Anyhow, here we are, still in a dominant position which will enable us to gather more strength as we move into the future. We remain in the driving seat," he was reported as saying.

The deal followed weeks of negotiations to end a political crisis following disputed presidential elections in March, when the MDC won more seats than the ruling Zanu-PF party. Tsvangirai beat Mugabe in the presidential vote but the state-appointed electoral commission said he did not have the more than 50% needed to avoid a second round. Tsvangirai boycotted the runoff because of violence against his supporters.

Under this week's complex deal, Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980, will retain the presidency, head the cabinet and keep control of the army. The police are expected to fall under the opposition's remit.

Western governments have welcomed the deal, brokered by Thabo Mbeki, the South African president, but have said they will wait to see whether a unity government is committed to political and economic reforms before they provide aid for the ruined economy.

Once one of Africa's brightest hopes, Zimbabwe is now an economic shambles. Inflation has rocketed to over 11 million per cent and millions have fled to neighboring countries.