Harare - A month after he clinched a power-sharing deal between Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his arch-rival Morgan Tsvangirai, former South African president Thabo Mbeki was back in Zimbabwe Tuesday to broker talks aimed at salvaging the accord.

Mbeki is to meet with Mugabe and Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) about the deadlock between their parties on the formation of a unity government, as agreed in the September 15 deal.

Mbeki, who is accompanied by two negotiators, will also meet with MDC splinter faction leader Arthur Mutambara, who is the third party to the deal.

Johannesburg/Harare- Former South African president Thabo Mbeki was due to return to Zimbabwe Monday to try to salvage the power-sharing deal he clinched a month ago between die-hard President Robert Mugabe and his arch-rival Morgan Tsvangirai.

Mbeki's spokesman told SAPA news agency he would travel to Zimbabwe Monday afternoon at the behest of "all the parties in Zimbabwe plus SADC (the Southern African Development Community, which deployed him as Zimbabwean mediator last year)."

Harare, Oct. 11 : Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has violated his ZANU-PF party''''s power-sharing deal with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai by allocating the three important portfolios of defence, home affairs and finance to members of his party.

According to The Telegraph, Mugabe and Tsvangirai have been deadlocked over how to share key ministries and have agreed to call in Thabo Mbeki, the former South African president, to mediate the crisis. Mbeki''''s spokesman said he would travel to Harare on Monday.

Harare- Zimbabwe's prime minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai on Thursday called on Zimbabwe's southern African neighbours and the African Union to intervene to end the deadlock in power-sharing talks between his and President Robert Mugabe's parties.

In a statement 24 days after Tsvangirai and Mugabe signed a deal to share power, Tsvangirai said, despite claims of progress by Mugabe's party, the two sides were still poles apart on the formation of a 31-ministry unity government.

Harare/Johannesburg - Zimbabwe's economic catastrophe is plunging the country into an "information dark age" as newspapers, radio and television become overwhelmed by multi-million per cent inflation and the breakdown of infrastructure, according to media analysts.

Newspapers have become too expensive for all but a tiny minority, while the state-controlled radio and television monopoly services are stricken by chronic power cuts, says the independent Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ).

Harare/Johannesburg - Hopes for an end to Zimbabwe's drawn- out political crisis were dashed again Monday when the pro-democracy Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) dismissed reports that talks to settle the details of a power-sharing agreement signed with President Robert Mugabe three weeks ago were to resume immediately.