Zimbabwes opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has said his party will join a unity government with President Robert Mugabe next month, BBC online reports Friday.
The deal, proposed by Southern African leaders, would see Mr Tsvangirai sworn in as prime minister on 11 February. A power-sharing deal between his MDC party and Mr Mugabe’s Zanu-PF was signed last September, but got bogged down in increasingly bitter disputes.
The new timetable was proposed by the Southern African Development Community.
– We are unequivocal, we will go into this government, Mr Tsvangirai was quoted as saying.
Agreeing to the deal requires a leap of faith for the MDC, which has no trust in Mr Mugabe. But the decision to commit itself was the only realistic option short of abandoning plans for a unity government.
The wrangling over power-sharing has paralysed Zimbabwe’s government for months.
Zimbabwe is suffering from rampant inflation, an escalating food crisis and an outbreak of cholera.
