By MacDonald Dzirutwe
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was sworn in as prime minister on Wednesday by old rival President Robert Mugabe and said his priority was to stabilise the ruined economy.
The implementation of a power-sharing agreement signed in September has raised hopes among Zimbabweans that a new leadership could ease widespread hardships.
But the deal has been held up by months of wrangling and the mistrust and continued quarrels between the old foes have put doubts over whether they can work together to ensure aid and investment flow in.
Tsvangirai, the 56-year-old leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, was sworn in by Mugabe, 84, who has ruled with his ZANU-PF party since independence from Britain in 1980.
"The first priority is to stabilise the economy," Tsvangirai said in his inauguration address.
He called on the international community to help Zimbabwe recover. It suffering unemployment above 90 percent, prices double every day, half the 12 million population need food aid and a cholera epidemic has killed nearly 3,500 people.