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Harare: Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai broke a political deadlock after three months of talks and agreed to share power in a country wracked by the world's highest inflation rate.
"A deal has been agreed this evening, more details will be available shortly,'' Tsvangirai, 56, of the Movement for Democratic Change party, said in a telephone interview from Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, late on Thursday.
Representatives of the two began talks after Tsvangirai boycotted a second-round of presidential elections in June, citing violence against his supporters. Mugabe, whose country is suffering an annual inflation rate of at least 11.2 million percent, was under pressure from neighboring states and other countries to end the impasse, which has resulted in about a quarter of Zimbabwe's 12 million people fleeing the nation.
The MDC and a splinter group of the party won control of the lower house of parliament in March elections, the first time Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front had been defeated since taking power in 1980. While Tsvangirai won the first round of the presidential poll he didn't garner the more than 50 percent of votes to avoid a run-off.
Mbeki's mediation
The talks, mediated by South African President Thabo Mbeki on behalf of the Southern African Development Community, have been taking place in Harare at the government-controlled Rainbow Towers hotel. Details of the negotiations will be made public on Sept. 15, Mbeki said in a televised news conference from Harare.
"It is inevitable that it will succeed,'' Mbeki said. "This agreement was made in Zimbabwe, it is owned by the Zimbabwean people and the rest of the world needs to respect that.''
Mbeki flew to Harare on Sept. 8 to resume talks that stalled last month when neither Mugabe nor Tsvangirai could agree on how to split executive powers.
"The outcome of a peaceful settlement for Zimbabwe will bring a great deal of prosperity and peace to the SADC region,'' Jessie Duarte, a spokeswoman for South Africa's ruling African National Congress said, according to the South African Press Association.
The agreement should "pave the way for a durable peace and recovery'' in the country, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement late yesterday. He said he hoped it will contribute to a "rapid improvement in the welfare and human rights of the people of Zimbabwe, who have suffered for long.''
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