OneWorld.net (U.S.)

OneWorld.net note: After months of negotiations and years of political and economic turmoil bordering on humanitarian disaster, the people of Zimbabwe may finally be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel this weekend.

• Mugabe and Tsvangirai.Zimbabwe's current crisis has been unfolding since at least 2000 -- but probably 1997 -- says the nonviolenct civic action group Women of Zimbabwe Arise, who have emerged as a dominant force for change in the country throughout that period. "Bare physical survival is at risk through lack of food supplies coupled with the collapse of services, including water, sanitation, and health services. Families are divided through the migration of breadwinners, and the whole of life has become a constant, debilitating struggle for the vast majority of Zimbabweans," the group explained in a recent profile on OneWorld.net.

• The power-sharing agreement comes five months after the latest standoff began, and nearly three months after the run-off elections that opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai boycotted amid escalating lethal violence. Just days after that "vote," OneWorld's correspondent in Harare cautioned that it was too soon to begin talks about a government of national unity, saying: "We are still recovering from the fear, violence, and murder that characterized the run off. Some people are still missing and we need to know where they are -- dead or alive."

Zimbabwe: Political Leaders Agree on Power-Sharing Deal

From: AllAfrica.com

11 September 2008

Cape Town

More than five months after Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) beat the ruling Zanu-PF into second place in elections, the country's three main political parties have reached an agreement to share power.

President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa confirmed at a news conference in Harare on Thursday night that a "unanimous agreement" had been concluded by all negotiating parties. The news conference was broadcast live in South Africa on satellite television channels.

Mbeki - appointed as facilitator of the talks by the Southern African Development Community - spoke soon after the news agency Agence France-Presse quoted MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai as emerging from talks to tell journalists in Harare: "We've got a deal." Reuters quoted a Zimbabwe government source as confirming the deal.

Mbeki said the agreement would be signed and published on Monday.

He flew to Harare earlier this week to preside over renewed talks for a government of national unity. The talks focussed on how executive powers would be shared between Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe, who has ruled for 28 years.

Earlier on Thursday, Mugabe was quoted as telling a meeting in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city: "We have not gone anywhere. We are still stuck at the same point where those from the MDC still want to govern."

Bookmark AllAfrica.com's Zimbabwe page for the latest updates from sources in and around Zimbabwe.