Harare, Johannesburg - Zimbabwean riot police broke up two demonstrations by hundreds of women and students Monday outside a hotel in Harare where talks were under way to salvage a crucial power-sharing deal.

The police used force to disperse at least 300 women activists, who were calling for President Robert Mugabe and prime minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai to quickly form a unity government to allow for the rebuilding of the tattered economy.

At least 11 women were treated for injuries after being beaten by the police and 47 were arrested, according to the Women's Coalition of Zimbabwe.

"It is the women of this country who have to carry the burden of the suffering," coalition spokeswoman Emilia Chawa said.

Police also broke up a protest by around 100 students, who were also calling for a September power-sharing deal to be quickly implemented so that schooling, which has ground to a halt, can resume.

South African President Kgalema Motlanthe, his predecessor Thabo Mbeki, who is mediating in Zimbabwe, and senior Swazi and Angolan officials held talks Monday with Mugabe and Tsvangirai amid fears Tsvangirai's MDC could pull out of the deal.

Four days of talks between Tsvangirai and Mugabe recently ended in deadlock over the formation of a cabinet.

Arthur Mutambara, leader of a minority faction of Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), was also involved in the talks.

The MDC accuses Mugabe of keeping all the most important ministries for his Zanu-PF party. The dispute is centred on control of the home affairs ministry, which the MDC is demanding, but Zanu-PF is reluctant to relinquish.

Monday's meeting takes place a week after Tsvangirai boycotted a first meeting of the Southern African Development Community sub-group on security, on the basis that Mugabe regime's refuses to to renew his passport.

MDC members say privately the MDC was unhappy with a report Mbeki, who has shown bias towards Mugabe, had compiled on the situation.

On Sunday, Tsvangirai warned the former South African leader he would pull out of the deal unless Mbeki showed more impartiality.

"We will abandon it (the deal) if we see that quite diplomacy is leading to quiet approval of wrong things," he warned.

The power-sharing deal is seen by many as the only way of rescuing Zimbabwe from economic meltdown. The once-prosperous nation is experiencing acute shortages of all essentials, including fuel, electricity, cash, food and drugs.

Inflation officially stands at more than 200 million per cent, though independent analysts put it at more than 1 billion per cent.

Mbeki declared himself optimistic Monday about the prospect for a breakthrough in the talks. (dpa)