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Zimbabwean talks show progress

NYP2002030901 - NEW YORK, March 9, (UPI)---Zimbabawe President Robert Mugabe, shown here in Jan. of 2000 at the U.N. in New York, partook in elections that have led to riots on March 9, 2002, in Zimbabwe. Mugabe faces opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai for Zimbabwe's presidency. mk/mk/Ezio Petersen UPI .
1 of 2 | NYP2002030901 - NEW YORK, March 9, (UPI)---Zimbabawe President Robert Mugabe, shown here in Jan. of 2000 at the U.N. in New York, partook in elections that have led to riots on March 9, 2002, in Zimbabwe. Mugabe faces opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai for Zimbabwe's presidency. mk/mk/Ezio Petersen UPI . | License Photo

HARARE, Zimbabwe, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and opposition head Morgan Tsvangirai were to return to power-sharing talks Monday with key issues remaining, Mugabe said.

The two sides reached broad agreement that Mugabe would be president and Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, will be prime minister heading up a large cabinet evenly divided between their two parties, but with a smaller opposition faction holding the balance of posts, The Guardian reported.

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Sources close to the talks told the British newspaper the two sides remain apart on key issues that will determine the power-sharing government's functionality.

South Africa's President and negotiation mediator Thabo Mbeki proposed Mugabe be a ceremonial president transferring executive powers to Tsvangirai as prime minister. Mugabe entered Sunday's round of talks saying he wouldn't cede most of his powers, while Tsvangirai argued that he won the people's mandate to govern in the March election.

The two also disagree on the size of the cabinet, who would control which ministries and how long the reconstituted government would sit, the Guardian reported.

When Sunday's 14-hour session ended, CNN reported Mugabe as saying, "We obviously have sticking points like in any talks, but we look forward to overcome them."

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