Whether Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, can help Zimbabwe escape the yoke of Robert Mugabe’s rule is not yet clear. The two bitter rivals have signed a power-sharing deal, a complicated arrangement that leaves Mr Mugabe as President and makes Mr Tsvangirai Prime Minister. The army stays under Mr Mugabe’s control, while Mr Tsvangirai apparently has the job of fixing the devastated economy.

An opposition Movement for Democratic Change source close to the negotiations said on condition of anonymity: “ZANU-PF wants all the powerful ministries like finance, defence, local government and information and leave us less important ministries. We are saying: ‘Let’s have an equal share’.”

Zimbabwe will not move forward with Robert Mugabe and his cronies in charge. The fundamental problem is that the whole notion of “power-sharing” is inherently flawed. Either Mugabe will remain the most powerful man in Zimbabwe — or his old foe and newly appointed Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, will supplant him.

President Robert Mugabe began the frequently violent land seizures in 2000 to boost his fading popularity, accusing Britain of reneging on a commitment in the 1979 Lancaster House agreement to compensate white farmers for land redistributed to blacks. The move triggered Zimbabwe’s economic collapse as its productive farms were ruined.

Long-time President Robert Mugabe, former Opposition Leader and Prime Minister-elect Morgan Tsvangirai, and Arthur Mutambara - leader of a breakaway faction of Mr Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) - signed the agreement in front of some 3,000 invited guests in Harare’s International Conference Centre.

The two sides have remained divided in the negotiations over how President Robert Mugabe, 84, and Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai would share power in a national unity government. A Zimbabwean analyst called the talks “dead”.

The Movement for Democratic Change’s Lovemore Moyo had 110 votes, Clerk of Parliament Austin Zvoma said, giving Mr Moyo one of the most powerful positions in Zimbabwean politics at a time of growing doubt over power-sharing talks.

The alliance between President Mugabe’s Zanu (PF) party and a breakaway faction of the Movement for Democratic Change would restore the control of parliament that Zanu (PF) lost to the MDC in the March election. However, it will do little to help a country saddled with the world’s highest inflation rate and lowest life expectancy after years of grotesque misrule.

A collapse of the talks between ZANU-PF and the Movement for Democratic Change could lead to an accelerating implosion of Zimbabwe’s economy and the flight of millions more people from Mr. Mugabe’s increasingly repressive rule into neighboring countries, potentially destabilizing the region.