2:45pm UK, Monday September 15, 2008

President Robert Mugabe has ended nearly three decades of rule in Zimbabwe by signing an historic power-sharing deal with rival Morgan Tsvangirai.

The deal spells the end for Robert Mugabe’s total dominance of Zimbabwe

The deal sees Mr Mugabe stay on as president, while Mr Tsvangirai will become prime minister.

The number of cabinet posts will be reduced from 50 to 31, with Mr Mugabe’s Zanu-PF taking 15 and Mr Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) 16.

Mr Mugabe will retain control of the army, while the MDC will take charge of the police, Sky News understands.

The audience cheered as the agreement was signed in front of African leaders including Tanzania’s Jakaya Kikwete, chairman of the African Union, Swaziland’s King Mswati III and South African President Thabo Mbeki, who brokered the deal.

Mr Mugabe’s regime drew international condemnation for murderous attacks on opposition supporters following a presidential election that the MDC says he lost.

But Mr Tsvangirai called for forgiveness for past wrongs and for opponents to unite, without forgetting the past.

“My hope for the future is stronger than the grief I feel for the needless suffering of the past few years,” he said.

“The world has too many examples of what happens when people are driven by past wrongs rather than hope of future glory.

“Divisions, polarisation and hatred belong to the past.”

Sky News Africa correspondent Emma Hurd said: “Zimbabwe has been under the total control of Robert Mugabe for 28 years but this, in theory, is going to change that.”

She added that it was not entirely clear how power would be divided, and how much the deal would change the face of the government in Zimbabwe.

“Is it going to be the same old cronies round Mugabe, or is it going to be new faces?” she asked.

“Tsvangirai will not be able to change the country if Zanu-PF stands in his way.”

A spokesman for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he would back the new government as long as the power-sharing deal bore tangible results.

“In principle we stand ready to support Zimbabwe’s new administration, to bring about much-needed change,” the spokesman said.

“But the extent and nature of our support will be determined by the actions that the new administration takes on the ground.”

Mr Mugabe, 84, has ruled Zimbabwe with an iron hand since its independence from Britain in 1980.

Zimbabweans hope the agreement will be a first step in helping to rescue the nation from economic collapse.

Inflation has rocketed to over 11,000,000% and millions of people have fled to neighbouring southern African countries.