Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai shared a symbolic handshake in front of a cheering crowd in Harare today as the bitter opponents finally signed a Zimbabwean power-sharing accord.

The President of Zimbabwe has agreed to make the opposition leader his prime minister, with the two men at the head of a coalition government, but sceptics fear that Mr Mugabe has no intension of ceding any real power to the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

The power-sharing agreement will put the MDC in control of the police, but Mr Mugabe’s Zanu (PF) will retain command of the Army. The precise make up of the Cabinet and country's Council of Ministers will be released later today. Arthur Mutambara, the leader of a smaller opposition faction, becomes deputy prime minister under the deal.

Such is the tension between the rival camps at a time of economic meltdown, however, that violence broke out near to the Rainbow Towers Hotel as the accord was being signed inside. Several hundred people broke through the perimeter fence surrounding the hotel as the ceremony ended. Stone-throwing broke out among several thousand supporters of the rival parties and police fired warning shots and set dogs on the crowd. Officers had managed to close the gates this afternoon but were struggling to contain both those inside and outside.

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Robert Mugabe offered no hint of the humility, or the recognition of his own grievous mistakes and misrule

Martin Fletcher

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Signing the agreement, Mr Tsvangirai said: “I, the prime minister of Zimbabwe, call Zanu (PF) and MDC to unite Zimbabwe. Divisions belong to the past."

The United States, European Union and Britain have cautiously welcomed the deal but they say they will wait to see the full details of the accord before relaxing sanctions.

David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, said: “We are on tenterhooks waiting for the details of the agreement in Zimbabwe and the shape of the new government that is being created there.

“The absolute imperative is the welfare of the Zimbabwe people. We know a new democratic mandate exists and now we need to see that translated into action on the ground.”

Mr Miliband, in Brussels for talks with European foreign ministers, said the new pact would have to be seen to work before any significant change in EU relations with Zimbabwe.

Mr Mugabe, 84, was greeted with jeers as he entered the Rainbow Towers hotel in the Zimbabwean capital. The signing ceremony was attended by several southern African leaders including Thabo Mbeki, the South African president, who has brokered three months of talks.

Mr Mbeki’s grin was perhaps the widest as he clasped hands with the two leaders this morning. He was under intense pressure in the region and from the West to forge an agreement after suggestions that he was too close to the man who has ruled Zimbabwe for the past three decades.

Mr Mugabe was a hero in the country’s liberation war, but has since governed his nation towards an 11 million per cent inflation rate. He stands accused of trampling on human rights, violence and intimidation that has left one million of his people starving and thousands dead or severely injured.

Mr Tsvangirai, the opposition leader, was one of those badly beaten in the wave of violence which halted the electoral process earlier this year, just as it looked as though Mr Mugabe would be voted from power.

Mr Tsvangirai claimed outright victory over the incumbent president in March elections, but the government rejected that claim and forced a second round run-off election for president.

The MDC leader pulled out of that contest in June, saying it was too dangerous for supporters to vote against Zanu (PF).

In the wake of the discredited elections, international pressure demanded that Mr Mugabe share power.

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