Harare, Jan. 28 : Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has decided to enter the unity government with President Robert Mugabe, a senior advisor to the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader said on Tuesday night.

According to a report in The Telegraph, the move comes despite fears that Mugabe will use the arrangement to marginalise the MDC.

Tsvangirai has consistently refused to join a coalition with Mugabe, who retains strong powers as president under the power-sharing agreement, unless MDC figures are given key cabinet posts, especially the home affairs ministry, which brings control over the police.

But he is under immense pressure from regional leaders to join the government after almost 3,000 Zimbabweans have died of cholera, millions need food aid, and the economy is in a spiral of collapse.

Earlier this week a regional summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in Pretoria said that he should be sworn in as prime minister within a fortnight.

The MDC issued a statement yesterday saying the summit''s conclusions "fall far short of our expectations", but a source close to the negotiations said Tsvangirai believed he had no alternative but to "give it a try".

He will return to Harare on Wednesday and is ready to be sworn in as prime minister, subject to the MDC''s national council endorsing the decision on Friday.

Some of Tsvangirai''s closest lieutenants, however, fear that the power-sharing deal has echoes of the Unity Accord of 1987, when Zanu-PF merged with Joshua Nkomo''s Zapu organisation and effectively swallowed it whole.

Despite Mr Tsvangirai coming first in the first round of presidential polls in March and MDC depriving Zanu-PF of a parliamentary majority for the first time since 1980, some observers believe that Mugabe and Zanu PF''s determination to retain their grip on the levers of power leaves the MDC with no choice but to implement the power-sharing agreement. (ANI)