Cape Town — South Africa's President Jacob Zuma says Zimbabwe's leaders have agreed on "a package of measures" which could bring about "substantial" progress in implementing the agreement setting up their unity government.
In a statement issued from his office in Pretoria, Zuma said he was "encouraged by the spirit of cooperation" shown by the rival leaders during his three-day visit to Harare which ended Thursday.
But he did not announce any details of the package.
He said negotiators for the Zimbabwean parties belonging to the unity government had been told by their leaders to wrap up outstanding issues in talks scheduled for March 25, 26 and 29, and to report back to him by March 31.
Zuma travelled to Zimbabwe with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) deeply frustrated at what they regard as the intransigence of President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF in talks, and at Mugabe's unilateral action in stripping MDC ministers of their powers.