Mbeki 'will keep Zimbabwe role'

Mr Mbeki (right) brokered the deal just before resigning

Former South African President Thabo Mbeki has confirmed he will continue his mediation efforts in Zimbabwe.

"He will resume his work as soon as it is practically possible," his spokesman Mukoni Ratshitanga said.

Mr Mbeki brokered a power-sharing deal between President Robert Mugabe and his long-time rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, before stepping down last week.

On Thursday, Mr Tsvangirai's party said only mediation could break a deadlock in talks on forming a cabinet.

However, Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party has denied there is a stalemate in the negotiations.

In the deal signed two weeks ago, it was agreed that Mr Mugabe would be president working with Mr Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), as prime minister.

Mr Mbeki resigned last month amid claims - which he denies - of political interference in a corruption case against South Africa's governing party leader, Jacob Zuma.

South Africa's newly elected President Kgalema Motlanthe has given his backing to Mr Mbeki's continuing mediation role in Zimbabwe's power-sharing talks.

'Weekend push'

According to MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa, Zanu-PF is demanding all the key ministries in the new unity government.

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President Mugabe's party has insisted that no outside mediation is needed in the dispute, believed to centre on control of the defence, home affairs, state security and finance ministries.

But two senior Western diplomats in South Africa told the French news agency, AFP, that at least one Mbeki aide would travel to the Zimbabwean capital this weekend to try to push forward the talks.

"Former President Thabo Mbeki's legal adviser Mojanku Gumbi will be in Harare this weekend... to talk to the political actors," one diplomat said, on condition of anonymity.

Mr Mbeki was appointed by the Southern African Development Community to resolve Zimbabwe's problems.

It was hoped that a new government would overcome the acute economic crisis as the official inflation rate is still at least 11m% and there are severe food shortages.

UN humanitarian chief John Holmes told the BBC on Thursday that three million people were already reliant on aid, and that figure could rise to five million.