Zuma breaks Zim deadlock

President Jacob Zuma is on the verge of breaking the logjam that was threatening Zimbabwe's unity government.

In a coup for his tough diplomacy, Zuma announced soon after finishing his marathon meetings with the country's main political leaders that they had agreed on a "basket of measures to be implemented concurrently".

Insiders of Zanu-PF, MDC-Tsvangirai and MDC-Mutambara said the proposals would be finalised by negotiators before the end of the month.

Zuma met President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara separately and then together, in an effort to resolve a deadlock in their 2008 political agreement.

"There is an agreement on how to resolve the issues that have been outstanding for some time. All these, including the issue of Roy Bennett, the appointment of the attorney-general and (Reserve Bank) governor are in a basket of solutions and still need to be unpacked in detail. All these have to be finalised by March 31," said Zuma's spokesman, Vincent Magwenya.

The measures on which Zuma won agreement include:

• Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono will resign;
• Attorney-general Johannes Tomana will be appointed a high court judge and replaced by someone acceptable to all three parties;
• Treason charges against MDC MP Roy Bennett will be dropped, but he will be given a position different to the deputy agriculture minister slot initially assigned to him;
• Ten provincial governorships will be shared among the parties; and
• All parties will lobby for the lifting of targeted sanctions against Mugabe and key Zanu-PF leaders.