Harare/Johannesburg - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai reached an historic power-sharing agreement Thursday, apparently ending their nearly decade-long standoff. South African President Thabo Mbeki, who was mediating in the difficult talks, said the two men and Arthur Mutambara, leader of a breakaway MDC faction, had signed up to a unity government but gave no details about the plan.
"An agreement has been reached on all items on all of the matters (under negotiation)," Mbeki told a press conference, adding that the agreement would be formally signed Monday in the presence of regional and African leaders.
Emerging from the talks, a beaming Tsvangirai said, "We have a deal," drawing cheers from journalist. Mugabe, 84, also appeared in good spirits as he left the city centre hotel where the talks were held.
The deal ends Mugabe's 28-year monopoly on power.
Under the draft agreement that formed the basis for the negotiations, Tsvangirai, who has led the pro-democracy struggle in Zimbabwe for nine years, was slated to become prime minister while Mugabe remains president with reduced powers. The division of executive powers between the two had been a key bone of contention.
The question of who would chair the cabinet has been particularly fraught.
Sources from both sides said that a compromise had been reached, which would see Mugabe chair cabinet and Tsvangirai chair a council of ministers.
Other issues discussed this week were the term of the new government. The MDC was originally calling for a two-and-a-half-year transitional authority, while Mugabe had been pushing for a full, five-year term for the government.
The announcement of the deal was received with caution by many, pending further details. Western powers have said they will only support a government in which Tsvangirai is top dog.
But the breakthrough was excitedly received by residents of Harare's poor neighbourhoods.
"All i want is the economy to tick. We have suffered enough," said Sam Gara, patron of a bar in the suburb of Glenview, on hearing the news.
The deal, which caps around eight weeks of stop-start talks held in South Africa, comes at the end of a second four-day marathon round of Mbeki-brokered talks between the three leaders in Harare.
A first round collapsed in August after Tsvangirai backed away from a deal that he said would have made him a toothless prime minister.
Zimbabweans have been hoping for a negotiated settlement to resolve the country's nearly decade-long political and economic crisis, blamed largely on Mugabe's populist policies.
South Africa's ruling African National Congress welcomed the agreement as an "important agreement for South Africa."
"The outcome of a peaceful settlement for Zimbabwe will bring a great deal of prosperity and peace to the SADC (Southern African Development Community) region, and we congratulate President Mbeki for this remarkable achievement," party spokeswoman Jessie Duarte said.
Zimbabwe has been mired in crisis for the last eight years since a lawless land-grab of white-owned farms triggered an economic collapse. Inflation is running at 11.2 million per cent and food is in critically short supply.
The economic woes intensified in March when the MDC won a majority in parliamentary elections and Tsvangirai beat Mugabe in the first- round presidential vote, but fell short of enough votes to avoid a runoff.
Mugabe launched a campaign of brutal intimidation ahead of the June second-round presidential election, which saw Tsvangirai withdraw after dozens of his supporters were slain by Mugabe supporters.
Mugabe was declared the winner of a one-man election that was denounced across the world as a violent, farce. In the wake of the vote, the African Union called on Mugabe to form a unity government with the MDC.
Any deal will be seen as a success for Mbeki, who steps down next year after two terms as president. Mbeki's nine-year "quiet diplomacy" had been blasted as biased and ineffective.
