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Mugabe, Zimbabwe Opposition To Sign Agreement Today

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The Associated Press

Published: September 15, 2008

HARARE, Zimbabwe - On paper - and it's a paper he has yet to sign or even publicly admit exists - President Robert Mugabe appears to be acknowledging at last that he cannot rule Zimbabwe alone.

Mugabe, Zimbabwe's main opposition leader and the leader of a smaller opposition faction were to sign a power-sharing deal today that has resulted from weeks of negotiations mediated by South African President Thabo Mbeki.

Mbeki and Morgan Tsvangirai, the main opposition leader, announced a deal late Thursday. They gave no details, saying the agreement would be made public today.

Members of the opposition first gave the broad outlines Friday, and media controlled by Mugabe confirmed their version Sunday.

According to Zimbabwean state radio Sunday and the opposition members earlier, the agreement to be signed today calls for a Cabinet with 31 members; 16 from the opposition and 15 from Mugabe's party.

It is an acknowledgment from Mugabe - accused of holding onto power through violence and fraud and ruining the economy - that his party no longer draws the support it once enjoyed from Zimbabweans.

But opposition members who wanted Mugabe to surrender power completely have complained the deal does not go far enough, and creates a complicated arrangement Mugabe could exploit, especially given the tension that exists between the two opposition factions.

Mugabe, 84, and Tsvangirai, 56, are seen to have been forced into the deal by economic pressures.

Mugabe has been in power since Zimbabwe's independence from Britain in 1980. He will remain president and is to chair the Cabinet, with Tsvangirai as vice chairman. Tsvangirai is to head a new Council of Ministers that will supervise the work of the Cabinet.

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