By Cris Chinaka
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe power-sharing talks will resumeon Tuesday after President Robert Mugabe and opposition MDCleader Morgan Tsvangirai failed to secure a breakthrough onMonday.
Mugabe told reporters no deal was reached but the partiesheld a good meeting.
"We are moving forward, we are not going back," he said, ashe left the Harare hotel where South African president ThaboMbeki led talks to end the political and economic crisis, afterseveral hours of meetings.
Asked if a deal had been reached, Mugabe said: "Not yet".
Opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leaderMorgan Tsvangirai did not speak to reporters as he left thevenue but party spokesman Nelson Chamisa said the negotiationswould resume on Tuesday.
"We are trying to bridge the areas of our differences," hesaid.
Mbeki -- mandated by the region to secure a deal -- flewinto Harare in a bid to revive talks, amid growing doubts overhis chances of breaking the deadlock.
Two months of meetings in South Africa and Harare have sofar failed to ease divisions over executive powers.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said on Sunday he wouldrather quit talks than sign a bad deal and challenged Mugabe tohold a new election. Mugabe had threatened to form a governmentalone if Tsvangirai did not sign last week.
The post-election talks are deadlocked over how to shareexecutive power between Mugabe and Tsvangirai, putting off anychance of rescuing Zimbabwe from its economic collapse.
Tsvangirai beat Mugabe in a March 29 election but fellshort of enough votes to avoid a June run-off, which was won byMugabe unopposed after Tsvangirai pulled out, citing violenceand intimidation against his supporters.
Mbeki has come under repeated fire for not being toughenough with Mugabe.
Other southern African leaders have taken a harder lineagainst Mugabe, but he has refused to budge, and Tsvangirai'sMDC has made it clear it has little faith in Mbeki as amediator.
NO CHANGE
Tsvangirai told a rally on Sunday marking the party's ninthanniversary that he would not change his position in thepower-sharing talks if pressured by Mbeki.
In a commentary in Monday's edition of the government-runHerald newspaper, its political and features editor Mabasa Sasaagain accused Tsvangirai of refusing to sign a final deal onorders from Western powers opposed to Mugabe.
"The short history of the opposition is littered withevidence of a cancerous connection with Britain and otherWestern countries," he said, urging Mugabe to appoint a newcabinet to tackle Zimbabwe's worsening economy.
A breakaway faction of Zimbabwe's opposition MDC said onMonday it will remain independent and not work with Mugabe'sZANU-PF if no power-sharing deal was reached with Tsvangirai.
The breakaway faction headed by Arthur Mutambara said in astatement that its leadership had decided that any agreementwould have to be a three-way deal including Tsvangirai's mainopposition MDC.
Mugabe's victory in the election run-off was condemnedaround the world and drew toughened sanctions from Westerncountries whose support is vital for reviving Zimbabwe's ruinedeconomy.
Tsvangirai told the rally an agreement was out of thequestion unless Mugabe, in power since independence fromBritain in 1980, was prepared to compromise.
(Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)
