The word from Zimbabwe's queues: 'We're happy, things will be better'

THEY grinned, hit high fives and clapped each other round the shoulders but that was as far as most Zimbabweans' celebrations went.

Bread and bank queues yesterday buzzed with the news that bitter political rivals Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai had finally reached a power-sharing agreement late on Thursday.

"We are happy," said Thandiwe, a young assistant at a clothing boutique. "We have been suffering. Things will be better now."

Zimbabwe's appalling telephone, power and radio networks meant that many did not get news of the deal until early yesterday. It was what so many had been waiting for during six long weeks of talks brokered by South African president Thabo Mbeki.

But the optimism was guarded, both in and outside the country. The caution was fuelled by the lack of details on the terms of the agreement and by the fact that Mr Mugabe had by late last night made no public comment.

The EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, said he was encouraged by news of the power-sharing deal.

Mr Solana "is confident that the agreement to be signed on 15 September, when its details will be revealed, will allow Zimbabwe to find a way out of its deep crisis in the interest of the Zimbabwean people but also of Southern Africa as a whole," a statement from his Brussels office read.

EU officials in Brussels voted on Thursday to extend travel bans and an asset freeze to more members of the Mugabe regime – but yesterday decided to suspend implementation until details of the deal were available.

Some details leaked out yesterday. According to senator David Coltart and other opposition officials, Mr Mugabe will still be president and will still chair cabinet.

But for the first time, during a transitional period of at least 18 months, the octogenarian leader will have to work with a majority of cabinet ministers from the party he has always branded "British puppets".

Fifteen of his ministers will be from his Zanu-PF party, 13 from Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and three from a breakaway faction of the MDC.

In a direct challenge to Mr Mugabe's authority, Mr Tsvangirai will chair a specially created council of ministers, which is likely to supervise the cabinet.

Opposition officials worried privately the deal was "cumbersome" and wondered how cabinet members who have publicly vilified each other since the MDC was formed in 1999 would work with each other."

We all know what Mugabe is. He has never kept to any agreement in the past," a high-ranking opposition official said.

"We want to know who the ministers are going to be and the provincial governors. It's a bit worrying that all that is still being worked out."

Mr Mugabe's loyalists refused to comment. State ZBC radio said only that the agreement was "a positive move towards national development".

Adding to the confusion, ZBC continued to broadcast propaganda messages from Mr Mugabe in which he thanked Zimbabweans for voting for him in the June 29 run-off poll.

Worn down by eight years of stolen elections, hunger, hyperinflation and violence, some Zimbabweans were willing to cling to hope for a better future -– and the prospect of a badly-needed £1 billion in potential aid money to be released over the next two years.

"I think the deal will work," said Alois, a foreign currency dealer on Avondale flea market. He confirmed that Zimbabwe's battered dollar had rallied on the black market on news of the deal, with the pound yesterday trading for $840, up from $924.

"Tsvangirai is a peacemaker. He will be like (former South African president) Nelson Mandela. He will not dig up the past."

"Anything is worth trying," a colleague chipped in.

Political analyst Takavafira Zhou, from the University of Great Zimbabwe, said: "If this deal fails, it spells doom for us."

Mugabe to remain president in carve-up among the parties

ACCORDING to leaked details of the deal, Robert Mugabe will remain president. He will chair a 31-member cabinet.

Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai will be prime minister. He will chair a newly-created council of ministers which will "supervise" the work of the cabinet. The council will be drawn from the 31-member cabinet.

The cabinet will be split down the middle, with 15 members of Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF, 13 members of Mr Tsvangirai's MDC and three ministers drawn from a smaller MDC faction led by Arthur Mutambara. There will be two vice-presidents, both from Zanu-PF. They are likely to be the two incumbents, Joseph Msika and Joyce Mujuru.

There will be two deputy prime ministers, one from the Tsvangirai-MDC and one from the Mutambara-MDC. (Mr Tsvangirai was initially against being deputised by Mr Mutambara).

Mr Mugabe will be in control of the army. Mr Tsvangirai will be in control of the police.

Mr Tsvangirai will also sit on the National Security Council, a successor to the controversial Joint Operations Command, which masterminded the brutal April-June clampdown on opposition supporters. He is likely to order the overhaul of draconian media and security laws as a matter of urgency.

Mr Mugabe has already appointed five non-constituency senators: the two factions of the MDC will be able to nominate another four.