Zimbabwe rivals to hold key talks

Almost half of Zimbabwe's population needs food aid

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai are due to hold talks which could be the last chance to salvage a unity deal.

The two men are discussing a power-sharing agreement, stalled since September. The presidents of Mozambique and South Africa will also attend.

Mr Mugabe said on Sunday he would not make any more concessions until a unity government was formed.

Mr Tsvangirai says he will not be bulldozed into an agreement.

Under September's deal, Mr Tsvangirai is to become prime minister while Mr Mugabe remains as president.

It's hard to envisage how they find any middle-ground Knox ChitoyoZimbabwe analyst

But the deal faltered after Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party accused Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF of trying to keep the most powerful ministries - including the one that controls the police - to itself.

The political deadlock has exacerbated the problems facing Zimbabweans, from a cholera epidemic and an economic meltdown to food shortages and the collapse of basic services such as health and education.

The MDC has also complained about the abduction of opposition and human rights activists by state security agents.

'Climb-down'

Zimbabwe analyst Knox Chitoyo told the BBC's Network Africa programme that the two sides had lost all trust in each other.

The MDC will not be bulldozed into an agreement that doesn't reflect the will of the people of this country Morgan Tsvangirai Crunch time for Zimbabwe?

"It's hard to envisage how they find any middle-ground, said Mr Chitoyo, from the London-based Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).

"One or other of them is going to have to climb down seriously."

Mr Mugabe told state media that the MDC must "accept" the deal at Monday's talks, "or it's a break".

"If they have any issues they deem outstanding, they can raise them after they come into the inclusive government," he added.

South African President Kgalema Motlanthe, his predecessor Thabo Mbeki and Mozambican leader Armando Emilio Guebuza will attend the talks to push for a breakthrough.

However, Mr Mugabe said he had done everything required under the agreement and the time for talks was over.

"We have gone past negotiations and whatever concessions were there to be made have already been made," he said in the state-owned Sunday Mail.

"We have done all that SADC [Southern African Development Community] expected us to do and all that remains is fulfilling the agreement by forming an inclusive government."

The clear implication is that if the MDC does not signal agreement now, Mr Mugabe will go ahead and form a government unilaterally, the BBC's Peter Biles in Johannesburg says.

Mr Mugabe said: "We have gone past negotiations."

The MDC was deciding how to proceed with outstanding issues, particularly what it called Zanu-PF's unchanged "mindset and attitude" about a smooth running unity government.

Spokesman Nelson Chamisa told AFP news agency: "There has to be finality to the dialogue process - either in failure or in success. We can't continue with dialogue."

Mr Tsvangirai arrived back in Zimbabwe on Saturday after an absence of more than two months.

He told reporters he hoped Monday's talks would find a "lasting solution", but added:

"The MDC will not be bulldozed into an agreement that doesn't reflect the will of the people of this country."

Mr Tsvangirai gained the most votes in elections last March but not enough for outright victory.

He pulled out of a run-off in June against Mr Mugabe, citing a campaign of violence against opposition supporters.

More than 2,000 people have died since August from a cholera outbreak, fuelled by the collapse of the health, water and sanitation systems.

Some five million people - almost half the population - need food aid, donors say.

Last week, the central bank introduced a Z$100tr note, worth about US$30 (