By Cris Chinaka
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe saidon Wednesday he was hopeful that a power-sharing deal could besigned with the main opposition Movement for Democratic Changeon Thursday
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai also sounded an optimisticnote, saying he had been told by South African President ThaboMbeki that "very little work" was needed for the deal to comethrough.
A power-sharing deal would end two months of wrangling andhelp ease the crisis since Mugabe's re-election unopposed in aJune presidential poll re-run condemned around the world.
Tsvangirai, who won the initial election in March butfailed to garner adequate ballots for an outright victory,boycotted the second vote over attacks on his supporters.
Asked by Reuters if he was hopeful of a deal afterWednesday's talks, Mugabe said: "Yes, I hope so, I hope so."
"So far the progress is encouraging, so far so good, we arehopeful of signing tomorrow," Mugabe said as he left the hotelwhere negotiations have been taking place.
Separately, Tsvangirai told journalists Mbeki had advisedhim very little work remained on the deal.
"I've been advised by the convener (Mbeki) that very littlework is left ... the position is that we have been advised bythe facilitator that we re-convene at 4 (p.m. local time onThursday)," Tsvangirai said. Officials said the talks wouldresume at 3 p.m. British time on Thursday.
Zimbabweans hope a deal can pave the way for there-habilitate an economy in meltdown, as shown by inflation ofover 11 million percent and severe food and fuel shortages thathave driven millions across the country's borders, strainingregional economies.
ECONOMIC MELTDOWN
In another sign of the economic decline that has beenworsened by the political deadlock, the Reserve Bank ofZimbabwe said on Thursday it would license 1,000 retailers and200 wholesalers to sell goods in foreign currency. Fuel canalso be sold in foreign currency.
"We are doing this for an initial period of 18 months, asan experiment," Central bank Governor Gideon Gono toldreporters.
The most used foreign currencies in Zimbabwe are the SouthAfrican rand and the U.S. dollar.
The central bank has repeatedly re-denominated the Zimbabwedollar to try keep up with inflation. In its latest move itlopped off 10 zeros on August 1 to help bring relief toconsumers forced to carry large bags of money to buy everydaygoods.
The Zimbabwe dollar's the official rate to the U.S. dollarstands at 60, but has plunged to 2,000 to the greenback on athriving black market.
Mugabe and Tsvangirai said on Tuesday they had madeprogress and a jovial-sounding Mugabe said to reporters "We areoptimistic, we are never pessimistic" as he arrived forWednesday's talks between his ZANU-PF, Tsvangirai's MDC and abreakaway MDC faction.
Swaziland's foreign minister told Reuters that Mbeki --mandated by regional grouping SADC to mediate an end to thecrisis -- had told Swaziland's King Mswati III that he expectsto end his mediation efforts by the end of the week.
A meeting of SADC's defence and security committee waspostponed from Wednesday to give Mbeki time to deliver a finalreport on his mediation, Swaziland's Foreign MinisterMathendele Dlamini said.
Zimbabwe's state-run Herald newspaper said Mbeki hadpresented a proposal sharing executive powers, the mainsticking point in the negotiations. It also looked atstructuring an all-inclusive government.
(Additional reporting by Cris Chinaka; Editing by MatthewJones)
