President Mugabe of Zimbabwe today described his power-sharing deal with the opposition as a "humiliation" but said that he intends to remain firmly "in the driving seat".

The state-run Herald newspaper reported that Mr Mugabe told a meeting of his Zanu (PF) party that "if only we had not blundered the March elections, we wouldn't be facing this humiliation".

But he added: “Anyhow here we are, still in a dominant position which will enable us to gather more strength as we move into the future. We remain in the driving seat."

On Monday, the 84-year-old signed a landmark power-sharing deal with Morgan Tsvangirai, whose Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) won control of parliament in March elections, and Arthur Mutambara, who heads a rival MDC faction. The three men were due to meet later today to allocate government posts.

The deal, mediated by President Mbeki of South Africa, followed weeks of tense negotiations to end a political crisis compounded by the veteran leader’s disputed re-election as president. Mr Mugabe won the runoff last June after Mr Tsvangirai, whose party was victorious in March's first round, was forced to withdraw after a sustained campaign of Zanu (PF) political violence.

Under the deal signed last week, Mr Tsvangirai will become prime minister and head a council of ministers. Sceptics have pointed out, however, that Mr Mugabe will still chair Cabinet, which will meet more frequently and is likely to wield much more power, as well as keep control of the army.

Zanu (PF), which has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980, is expected to take 15 seats in Cabinet while Mr Tsvangirai's party takes 13 and Mr Mutambara's faction the remaining three.

Zimbabweans hope that the agreement will be a first step in helping to rescue the country from economic collapse. Inflation has rocketed to over 11 million percent and millions have fled to neighbouring southern African countries.

But Mr Mugabe's comments will only serve to fuel scepticism about how seriously he and his allies take the deal.

Despite pleas from Mr Tsvangirai for Western aid agencies and companies to return, both the European Union and United States have said that they will wait to see clear evidence that the accord is working before they start to resume aid payments.

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