Harare/Johannesburg - After three days of talks on a power- sharing government between Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai that ended in deadlock, mediating South African President Thabo Mbeki left Zimbabwe Wednesday.

As Mbeki left for Angola to report back on the talks to Angolan President Eduardo dos Santos, conflicting reports over whether Mugabe had gone over Tsvangirai's head and signed a deal with a breakaway faction of Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) continued to swirl.

Reports emanating from Mugabe's Zanu-PF Tuesday evening, after Tsvangirai walked out of the talks, said Mugabe had forged ahead with a deal on a government of national unity with MDC minority faction leader Arthur Mutambara.

Zimbabwe's state-controlled Herald newspaper also carried the report Wednesday, quoting an unnamed source "close" to the talks as saying, "President Mugabe and the leader of the opposition MDC have signed the agreement."

"(Morgan) Tsvangirai refused to do so last minute, but this does not affect progress. The principals of the other parties have agreed that they cannot wait any longer, and the nation demands progress," the source was further quoted as saying.

Mugabe would "go ahead and form the next government and parliament will soon sit."

But Mbeki on Tuesday evening denied knowledge of any pact between Mugabe and Mutambara, and Welshman Ncube, secretary-general of Mutambara's MDC faction, dismissed the report as "nonsense."

Mutambara was expected to clarify his position at a press conference later Wednesday.

The Herald, seen as a mouthpiece for Zanu-PF, alleged that Tsvangirai had scuppered the talks by making new last-minute demands "compiled by a Western embassy."

Responding to the allegation Tsvangirai's chief negotiator Tendai Biti said only, "Negotiations are not about one side dictating what should be agreed on."

Mbeki, who extended his stay in Zimbabwe by three days to try to clinch a deal ahead of a summit of Southern African Development Community (SADC) heads of state in South Africa at the weekend, maintained Tuesday the talks were "on course."

He then left to report back to Angola as the country that chairs SADC's organ on politics, peace and security.

But MDC sources with knowledge of the talks privately said little progress had been made on key issues, including what powers Tsvangirai would have if made prime minister as proposed.

The MDC and the West say Tsvangirai should be executive prime minister because he took the most votes in the last credible presidential elections in March.

Zanu-PF says Mugabe, Zimbabwe's leader of 28 years, should retain executive powers on the basis of his victory in a one-man second- round presidential poll in June, which few countries have recognized. (dpa)