Harare/Johannesburg - Zimbabwe's political leaders haggled over the details of a power-sharing agreement for a fourth day running in Harare on Thursday amid mixed signals from President Robert Mugabe about the likelihood a deal would be signed this week. Mugabe returned to talks with Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai, and Arthur Mutambara, leader of a breakaway MDC faction, in a Harare hotel after a quick trip to the second city of Bulawayo for a meeting with traditional leaders.
At the meeting in Bulawayo, Mugabe was reported to have insisted he had a mandate to rule and complained about excessive demands from Tsvangirai.
Asked about whether he expected to sign a deal on Thursday as he had intimated at the end of Wednesday's session, Mugabe said he would wait to hear first what had been discussed today in his absence.
South African President Thabo Mbeki, the Southern African Development Community's mediator in Zimbabwe, has been in Zimbabwe since Monday trying to nudge Mugabe and Tsvangirai the final mile towards a deal.
Mbeki aborted a trip to Swaziland to stay in Zimbabwe. He had been due to brief SADC's defence troika - Swaziland, Angola and Mozambique - on his progress.
Though Mugabe and Tsvangirai both said there had been further progress when they left the meeting on Wednesday night - Tsvangirai said there was "very little work left" and Mugabe said "hopefully we'll sign tomorrow" - sources close to the talks and state media said prospects of clinching a deal Thursday were "slim."
"Despite public pronouncements by the leaders that a deal was on the horizon, insiders revealed that little progress was made yesterday and the prospects of a settlement this week now appeared slim," the state-run daily The Herald said.
Mugabe was cited by the paper as telling Mbeki he would appoint a cabinet this week regardless of the outcome of the talks on Thursday.
"He (Mugabe) apparently indicated (to Mbeki) that the country had gone too long without a substantive government and the situation was now untenable," the report said.
The MDC has said such a move would end the talks.
Mugabe and Tsvangirai have been at loggerheads over how to share executive powers if, as proposed, Mugabe remains president and Tsvangirai becomes prime minister in a unity government. The question of who would chair the cabinet has been particularly fraught.
Sources from both sides said a compromise had been put forward, which would see Mugabe chair cabinet and Tsvangirai chair a council of ministers. The sources said there was agreement on the proposal. It was not possible to get official confirmation.
Other issues yet to be resolved were the positions of deputy prime ministers and the MDC's objection to Mugabe's appointment of regional governors last week - a move the MDC says contravenes the ground rules for the talks.
It was also not clear whether they had reached agreement on the duration of the new government. The MDC was originally calling for a 2.5-year transitional authority.
"Mugabe's argument is that he cannot dismiss the governors he appointed just last week, but given that this is a power-sharing arrangement, we can't allow Zanu PF to have all 10 governors," an MDC source said.
The MDC took the most votes in March legislative and presidential elections. Mugabe won a later presidential run-off that only he contested and that was widely denounced as a sham.
