Negotiators walked out of a meeting with President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party

Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) negotiators walked out of a meeting with President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party on 7 October 2008 after the two parties were unable to reach an agreement on the allocation of ministries. Although the ZANU-PF has reported that only two ministries -- home affairs and finance -- are still under discussion, the MDC claims that the assignment of all 31 ministries has yet to be decided upon. The MDC has stated that it will now wait for an international mediator to break the impasse, and former South African President Thabo Mbeki -- who mediated the initial power sharing agreement -- is expected to arrive in Harare in the coming days; the ZANU-PF, however, has insisted that international mediation is not needed. If the parties cannot reach a deal, the power sharing agreement will likely collapse; both MDC and ZANU-PF representatives have indicated that they would rather see the talks collapse than concede key ministries to the other party. The power sharing agreement was signed on 15 September after more than eight weeks of negotiations following the 27 June presidential election run-off, which took place in an environment of extreme violence and intimidation; the international community labeled the election a "sham."