Mugabe, rival set to share power

Zimbabwe leaders sign agreement

From left, Zimbabwe's deputy prime minister Arthur Mutambara, Robert Mugabe, Morgan Tsvangirai, and Thabo Mbeki, South Africa's president, joined hands at the signing of the deal. (Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/ Associated Press)

HARARE, Zimbabwe - After more than 28 years of unbroken power, President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe signed an agreement with the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai yesterday to divide the responsibilities for running the troubled country.

While many of the pieces of the long-awaited deal remained either unresolved or unannounced, Tsvangirai said the agreement "sees the return of hope to all our lives."

Despite questions about how the agreement would be implemented after so much acrimony and hostility between the two men, Mugabe said: "We are committed to the deal. We will do our best."

Opposition supporters at the ceremony in a conference center at a Harare hotel celebrated the signing and were jubilant when Tsvangirai appeared, hooting and applauding. Among the audience were many opposition workers who had gone into hiding in the run-up to the election earlier this year or been beaten in government-sponsored violence over the past eight years.

Godknows Nyamweda, 36, a local ward councilor here in Harare, rolled up his sleeve to show the scars where he said he had been sliced by a knife.

"I came to make sure my big fishes have not betrayed me and to make sure I'm walking in a free country," he said.

There was still fear that the repression could return with a vengeance, and some were afraid to be quoted by name. The crowd also repeatedly cheered the presence of Botswana's president, Seretse Khama Ian Khama, clapping and chanting, "Khama, Khama, Khama." He has been Mugabe's harshest critic in the region, refusing to recognize the legitimacy of his election.

Western diplomats were studying the text of the deal to see how power will be divided. Western nations are wary of pouring billions of dollars into Zimbabwe for its reconstruction unless they are convinced Tsvangirai has the authority he needs to change economic policies they believe have been calamitous for the country.

The arrangement was reached after weeks of negotiations that opened in July. The negotiations followed a season of contested elections, scarred by bloodletting and intimidation, which the opposition blamed on the government. Tsvangirai claimed victory in the first round of elections in March. But he boycotted a presidential run-off in June, citing political violence, leaving Mugabe as the sole candidate.

Despite the violence and bad feelings between the two sides, the sight of Mugabe, Tsvangirai and a second opposition leader, Arthur Mutambara, clasping hands beside Thabo Mbeki, the South African president who mediated the deal, prompted some participants to suggest that Zimbabwe's fortunes might have changed after years of autocracy and economic chaos.

Tsvangirai said a sense of hope "provides the foundation of this agreement that we sign today that will provide us with the belief that we can achieve a new Zimbabwe."

Mugabe seemed far less accommodating, using a speech after the signing ceremony to renew his accusations that Britain, the former colonial power, and the United States were responsible for Zimbabwe's problems.

"African problems must be solved by Africans," he said. "The problem we have had is a problem that has been created by former colonial power. Why, why, why the hand of the British? Why, why, why the hand of the Americans here? Let us ask that."

Tsvangirai, often labeled an agent for the British in the state media, said in his own remarks that it was time for Zimbabwe to open up to international donors - Britain and the United States among them - who were seeking to feed the multitude of hungry Zimbabweans.

Tsvangirai said his commitment to the agreement showed that "my belief in Zimbabwe and its peoples runs deeper than the scars I bear from the struggle" - a reference to the beatings he received in detention.

The full details of the agreement seemed unclear. Introducing the signatories, Mbeki, the South African leader who staked much political and diplomatic capital on negotiating the accord, referred to Mugabe as president, Tsvangirai as prime minister, and Mutambara as deputy prime minister.

Talking about the negotiations, Mugabe said there were lots of things in the agreement that he didn't like.

However, he said: "We are all Zimbabweans, and is there any other road, any other route to follow? History makes us walk the same route."