Talks on creating an unprecedented coalition government in Zimbabwe stretched into a third day last night, with their success hanging on Robert Mugabe’s willingness to surrender his monopoly on power.

After two days of negotiations President Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader who was cheated of victory in presidential elections in March, still apeared to be deadlocked. They are due to resume their talks at the Rainbow Towers Hotel in Harare, today, with Mr Mugabe saying that he was confident of success and Mr Tsvangirai refusing to comment.

The two men and Thabo Mbeki, the South African President, who is mediating the talks, agree that Mr Mugabe should remain President while Mr

Tsvangirai becomes prime minister, but they were still arguing over the relative powers of the two posts. “The major hold-up is the refusal by Mugabe to cede his executive powers. He is only agreeing to a nominal prime minister post for Morgan Tsvangirai,” an opposition source told Reuters.

Western powers have promised substantial aid to rebuild Zimbabwe’s shattered economy, but not if Mr Mugabe still controls the Government. However, an official of the ruling Zanu (PF) party said reports that Mr Mugabe would become merely a ceremonial president were “totally untrue”. Other sources said that Zimbabwe’s security chiefs and senior members of Zanu (PF) were resisting plans to cede power to Mr Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change because they feared arrest for human rights abuses. “The service chiefs don’t want Tsvangirai to have executive powers,” one told the Zimbabwe Independent newspaper.

One of those chiefs — Constantine Chiwenga, commander of the Zimbabwean Defence Forces — accompanied Mr Mugabe to yesterday’s talks.

A news blackout has been imposed on the negotiations, but Mr Mugabe, a brilliant exponent of the divide-and-rule strategy, is also thought to be demanding a significant role for Arthur Mutambara, who leads a breakaway faction of the MDC and is also attending the talks. Some reports say that Zanu (PF) is demanding that Mr Mutambara should be given one of the two deputy prime ministerial posts. Other key issues include control of the security forces and the size and composition of the Cabinet.

Before yesterday’s talks Mr Mugabe told an independence day rally that only “little hurdles” remained. Asked last night if there had been any progress, he said: “Not at the present moment, but we will continue tomorrow.”

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