Zimbabwe political rivals meeting in Harare could sign a power-sharing deal tomorrow, veteran President Robert Mugabe said late Tuesday following negotiations. "We are finishing tomorrow, hopefully. We are still going to talk, there are one or two areas of disagreement," Mugabe said as he left the venue for the talks.A government source had earlier said that there was "room for optimism that this deal would be signed tomorrow and that President Robert Mugabe will form a government anytime from tomorrow or this week."
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai has faced heavy pressure to sign a deal throughout different stages of talks, and earlier in the day, all three rival parties signalled that no deal was anticipated.
However, Tsvangirai later acknowledged that there had been some positive development in the negotiations as he left the talks venue. "This is work in progress and we are hoping that tomorrow we will be able to work on the outstanding issues," said Tsvangirai, whose party holds the largest number of seats in parliament after defeating Mugabe in a March vote.
Earlier on Tuesday, a source close to the talks told AFP that Tsvangirai had held separate "positive" talks in the morning with Mbeki who flew to Harare on Monday to revive the talks.
His counterpart from the breakaway MDC faction Arthur Mutambara, also expressed optimism that a deal is in sight. "We have made tremendous progress, there are few remaining issues to be resolved and hopefully tomorrow we will bring finality and closure to this important process of dialogue," said Mutambara.