Mugabe and Tsvangirai meet

Robert Mugabe is to meet Morgan Tsvangirai today for direct talks on a power-sharing deal brokered by South Africa's Thabo Mbeki. Mbeki suggested that Mugabe stay on as titular president of Zimbabwe with immunity from prosecution, while Tsvangirai, who won the country's last credible election in March at the head of his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), becomes prime minister.

It is thought Mbeki will join the two in Harare either today or in the next few days, to help thrash out crucial disagreements over just how much power Mugabe is allowed to retain.

Tsvangirai welcomed Mbeki's plan on the proviso that the government it formed was a transitional one which would hold elections within two years. And the MDC is thought to be reluctant to allow high-ranking Zanu-PF ruling party officials to avoid reparations for the brutal campaign of beatings, rape and murder they initiated across the country this year.