President Robert Mugabe will keep his job and head the Cabinet under a power-sharing deal in Zimbabwe, but the opposition will have more senior ministers than his Zanu-PF party, an opposition senator said yesterday.

Giving first details of the deal reached on Thursday, Senator David Coltart said Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the main opposition MDC group, would be Prime Minister and chair a council of ministers that supervised the Cabinet. The power-sharing deal was reached under the mediation of South African President Thabo Mbeki, who said details would not be announced until a ceremony on Monday.

Mr Coltart, a senior member of a breakaway faction of the MDC (Movement for Democratic Change), said Mr Tsvangirai's party would have 13 Cabinet seats, his group three seats and Zanu-PF 15.

This was based on votes cast for the parties rather than seats won in a March 29 election in which Zanu-PF lost control of Parliament for the first time since independence in 1980. Mr Tsvangirai won a parallel presidential vote but pulled out of a run-off in June citing systematic violence against his supporters. This allowed Mr Mugabe's unopposed but widely condemned re-election, extending his unbroken rule since independence.

Zimbabweans are desperate for an end to a crisis that has destroyed the economy, hitting the once-prosperous country with the world's highest rate of hyper-inflation - over 11 million per cent - and sending millions of refugees into neighbouring countries.

But there was widespread caution among commentators over how quickly the deal could end the crisis or persuade Western powers - deeply opposed to Mr Mugabe - to step in with massive financial support to aid recovery.

The European Commission welcomed the agreement, but said it was too early to say whether it would release frozen aid.

"At this stage, we are cautiously optimistic," spokesman John Clancy said. Mr Coltart said Mr Mugabe would be chairman of the Cabinet but his grip would be greatly reduced under the deal, and Mr Tsvangirai, in the new role of Prime Minister, would have substantial but not absolute power.

But some commentators said Mr Tsvangirai had lost out by compromising on his earlier demand for full executive power. They said the deal was fragile.

"The fact that Mr Mugabe remains in power as head of state and head of government means the MDC is the one coming into this deal as a junior partner," said Lovemore Madhuku, head of the pressure group National Constitutional Assembly.

European Union Aid and Development Commissioner Louis Michel said, however, that Mr Tsvangirai had told him he was satisfied.

"I think that the fact that Mr Tsvangirai tells me that he's satisfied with the accord is an important element of judgment for the European Union," he said.

Investors are already relishing prospects in Zimbabwe if the economy improves.

Shares in Zimbabwe-focused investment group LonZim were up more than five per cent early yesterday from an all-time low on Thursday at a time when a deal had looked difficult.