(In the News) — Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai have agreed to a timetable for reconciliation talks.

The signing, at a hotel in Harare today, marked the first time they had met face to face for a decade.

Earlier, Haile Menkerios, the new United Nations envoy for the crisis, said Mr Mugabe and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader could sign a memorandum of understanding today.

Speaking at a news conference after the signing Mr Tsvangirai noted the significance and irrationality of the “leader of the ruling party meeting with the leader of the winning party”.

Mr Tsvangirai won the popular vote in the country’s presidential election in March but was denied an outright victory after failing to gain an overall majority.

He later pulled out of a run-off vote in June, allowing Mr Mugabe to stand uncontested and re-elected, amid increasing politically-motivated violence.

Yesterday the MDC leader said he could not enter into negotiations over a possible power-sharing agreement until Mr Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party met a series of key demands.

The MDC had called for all political prisoners to be released and for violence against its supporters to be renounced, as well as a permanent African Union (AU) envoy and the resumption of outside humanitarian aid work.

Mr Tsvangirai has also criticised the mediation of South African president Thabo Mbeki, with a greater role in talks for the UN, the AU and the South African Development Community (SADC) already agreed.

But Mr Mbeki was present as Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai signed the breakthrough agreement.

Both men thanked the South African president for his role in the facilitation, which Mr Tsvangirai said would lead to the “first tentative steps towards a solution for a country which is in crisis”.

He said he hoped both sides to work towards a “common good” of a more prosperous and secure Zimbabwe.

“[Moving towards] these negotiations I hope that all of us will always bear in mind the mother and the child who goes to sleep without food, the people that have been brutalised, the divisions, the hate speech – I hope that will become part of the past,” the MDC leader continued.

“If we put our heads together I am sure we will find a solution.

“In fact, not finding a solution is not an option – I am sure we are all able to do our best. I can assure you from our party, we will do everything.”

Speaking moments later, Mr Mugabe praised Mr Mbeki for his mediation and the “positive insensitivity” with which he had greeted criticism of his facilitation.

“You must become insensitive, stubborn to it, because it’s wrong,” Mr Mugabe, in as much a message to himself as Mr Mbeki.