Harare/Johannesburg - Arch rivals Zimbabwean President
Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change, inked an historic power-sharing deal
Thursday, ending Mugabe's 28-year monopoly on power.
Details of the deal have yet to be released, but Mugabe had been
slated to remain president with fewer powers while Tsvangirai becomes
prime minister.
The deal caps five months of political turmoil in Zimbabwe since
Mugabe's unprecedented defeat in the first-round presidential
election.
March 29: Zimbabweans vote in relatively peaceful presidential and
parliamentary elections.
April 2: Results from the parliamentary vote show Tsvangirai's MDC
inflicting its first-ever defeat on Mugabe's Zanu-PF, with 99 seats
to Zanu-PF's 97 and 10 for an MDC offshoot.
May 2: Presidential results are released after a more than a
month-long delay, showing Tsvangirai taking more votes than Mugabe
but not enough for an outright victory.
May 24: Tsvangirai returns to Zimbabwe from more than a month of
self-imposed exile in South Africa and Botswana to campaign in the
June presidential runoff. He is detained several times without
charge.
June 5: The government orders 'pro-MDC' NGOs and humanitarian
agencies to suspend their aid operations, provoking an international
outcry.
June 22: Tsvangirai withdraws from the runoff after scores of his
supporters were killed in a campaign of political violence by pro-
Mugabe youth militia, war veterans and soldiers.
June 27-28: Mugabe wins the uncontested second-round vote without
and is sworn in as president for another five years. African election
observers say the election lacked legitimacy, while the West calls it
a 'sham.'
July 1: An African Union summit in Egypt recommends Mugabe and
Tsvangirai form a government of national unity.
July 21: At their first face-to-face meeting in 10 years, the two
leaders agree to talks.
August 9-12: South African President Thabo Mbeki, the regional
mediator, flies to Harare in hopes of cementing a power-sharing deal.
Talks break down three days later, after Tsvangirai refuses to accept
a junior partnership.
August 17: A Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit
in Johannesburg fails to resolve the deadlock.
August 19: Inflation in Zimbabwe reaches a record 11.2 million per
cent.
August 25: Tsvangirai's MDC scores a key victory in winning the
post of Parliament speaker with support from some Zanu-PF deputies.
August 26: Mugabe is humiliated as he opens Parliament to MDC
jeers.
September 11: Mugabe and Tsvangirai agree on a landmark deal to
share power in a unity government.
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