Questions remain on how much power Tsvangirai will have [AFP]

"An agreement has been reached on all items on the agenda ...  all of them endorsed the document tonight, signed it," Thabo Mbeki, the South African president, who chaired the negotiations between the political rivals, announced on Thursday.

Details of the deal were not released and Mbeki said the agreement would only be made public after a formal signing ceremony scheduled for Monday at 10am.

The talks have long been deadlocked over the allocation of executive power between Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader.

Mugabe won a controversial June presidential runoff unopposed after Tsvangirai withdrew, citing state-sponsored violence against his supporters.

Tsvangirai had won the first round of the presidential election in March, but fell short of an absolute majority.

Collapsed economy

Mugabe has led Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980,  but his party lost its parliamentary majority to the MDC for the  first time in legislative elections in March.

While the political crisis has dragged on, Zimbabwe's economy has continued its freefall with the world's highest inflation rate, 11.2 million per cent in June, according to official figures.

Once hailed as Africa's breadbasket, Zimbabwe's economy has virtually collapsed over the past decade with inflation out of control and chronic shortages of foreign currency and food including the staples cornmeal, sugar and cooking oil.

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