Robert Mugabe dismissed reports that the Sept. 15 power-sharing deal could fall apart "because I don't know of any hitch." He said he hopes the agreement will lead the West to ease sanctions he blamed for devastating the country's economy.
Under the agreement, the 84-year-old Mugabe remains president but is supposed to cede some of the powers he has wielded for nearly three decades in the southern African country. Long-simmering and bitter differences as well as the nation's economic collapse, though, have put the deal under intense pressure.
Mugabe told The Associated Press Wednesday the only outstanding issue is deciding on four of the 31 Cabinet posts, and the negotiations are continuing in Harare while he is in New York.
He declined to say which posts are still being discussed. The agreement provides for 15 nominated by Mugabe's party, 13 by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and three by the leader of a smaller opposition faction, Arthur Mutambara.
"Every one of us is actually positive about the agreement, or the need to cement the agreement and make it work," Mugabe told the AP.
"I don't see any reason why we can't work together as Zimbabweans," he said. "We are all sons of the soil, as we say, and the differences arise purely from own conceptions of what Zimbabwe should be and what the government of Zimbabwe should be."
Tsvangirai won the most votes in March presidential polling, but not enough to avoid a runoff against Mugabe. An onslaught of violence against Tsvangirai's supporters led him to drop out of the presidential runoff and Mugabe was declared the overwhelming winner of the second vote, which was widely denounced as a sham.
More than 100 opposition supporters were killed in the violence, thousands of people were beaten up and suffered broken limbs, and tens of thousands were forced from their homes.
Mugabe, who has been in power since independence from Britain in 1980, and Tsvangirai have been enemies for a decade. Tsvangirai has been jailed, beaten, tortured and tried for treason -- charges that were dismissed in court.
But Mugabe said Wednesday that he was willing to share power with Tsvangirai, who would become prime minister under the agreement, leading a council of ministers responsible for government policies and reporting to a Cabinet headed by Mugabe.
Still, Mugabe did not spell out who would have the final say if there was a major disagreement. And while he repeated several times that all parties want the agreement to work, Mugabe dismissed Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change as a creation of Britain's three major parties and beholden to its government.
Mugabe also made clear he is determined to remain president despite what he said were efforts by Britain and the United States to oust him.
"They are waiting for a day when this man, this evil man, called Robert Mugabe is no longer in control," he said. "And I don't know when that day is coming."
So he has no thoughts of resigning?
"No -- or a thought of dying," Mugabe chuckled.
Western nations, who have shunned Mugabe's government and whose aid and investment are sorely needed, have reacted cautiously to the coalition agreement. Millions of dollars in aid are expected to flow in if Mugabe actually shares power.
Mugabe said Wednesday the West should now begin removing "demonic" sanctions, which have targeted individuals and companies seen to be supporting his regime. They were tightened after elections this spring and the European Union recently added an arms ban.
"We don't expect investment from countries that are hostile," Mugabe said. "They can keep their investment, but we would hope in the first place that sanctions would be lifted."
European Union foreign ministers have welcomed the power-sharing deal but have said that Mugabe must prove he is willing to restore democratic rule before EU sanctions can be lifted.
Zimbabwe has the world's highest inflation rate even by the official figure of 11 million percent, and independent economists put it much higher.
Critics have linked Zimbabwe's economic slide to Mugabe's 2000 order that commercial farms be seized from whites. Mugabe says the land reform program was meant to help poor blacks and blames the country's economic collapse on Western sanctions.
Food, fuel, hospital supplies and other necessities are scarce as prices skyrocket in the region's former breadbasket. And millions of Zimbabweans, including doctors, teachers, business owners and others with important skills, have fled the country.
Mugabe is due to address the U.N. General Assembly later Thursday afternoon as is Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.
Earlier in the day, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani called terrorism "a blind danger that threatens everyone" and told world leaders the Iraqi government has "relentless determination" to impose the rule of law and disarm militias.
"The road to achieving our desired goal of a secure, stable and prosperous Iraqi is long," Talabani told the General Assembly. "We hope that the international community will support and assist Iraq in achieving these goals."
Talabani also called on nations to reopen diplomatic missions in Iraq.
