CHRONOLOGY: Rocky road to unity in Zimbabwe

Sep 15, 2008, 15:22 GMT

Harare/Johannesburg - Arch rivals Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, signed an historic power-sharing deal Monday, ending Mugabe's 28-year monopoly on power.

Under the deal, Mugabe remains president with fewer powers while Tsvangirai becomes prime minister.

The agreement caps nearly six months of worsening political turmoil in Zimbabwe, starting with March elections:

- March 29: Zimbabweans vote in relatively peaceful presidential and parliamentary elections.

- April 2: Results from the parliamentary vote show Tsvangirai's MDC inflicting its first-ever defeat on Mugabe's Zanu-PF, with 99 seats to Zanu-PF's 97 and 10 for an MDC offshoot.

- May 2: Presidential results are released after a more than a month-long delay, showing Tsvangirai taking more votes than Mugabe but not enough for an outright victory.

- May 24: Tsvangirai returns to Zimbabwe from more than a month of self-imposed exile in South Africa and Botswana to campaign in the June presidential runoff. He is detained several times without charge.

- June 5: The government orders 'pro-MDC' NGOs and humanitarian agencies to suspend their aid operations, provoking an international outcry.

- June 22: Tsvangirai withdraws from the runoff after scores of his supporters were killed in a campaign of political violence by pro- Mugabe youth militia, war veterans and soldiers.

- June 27-28: Mugabe wins the uncontested second-round vote without and is sworn in as president for another five years. African election observers say the election lacked legitimacy, while the West calls it a 'sham.'

- July 1: An African Union summit in Egypt recommends Mugabe and Tsvangirai form a government of national unity.

- July 21: At their first face-to-face meeting in 10 years, the two leaders agree to talks.

- August 9-12: South African President Thabo Mbeki, the regional mediator, flies to Harare in hopes of cementing a power-sharing deal. Talks break down three days later, after Tsvangirai refuses to accept a junior partnership.

- August 17: A Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit in Johannesburg fails to resolve the deadlock.

- August 19: Inflation in Zimbabwe reaches a record 11.2 million per cent.

- August 25: Tsvangirai's MDC scores a key victory in winning the post of Parliament speaker with support from some Zanu-PF deputies.

- August 26: Mugabe is humiliated as he opens Parliament to MDC jeers.

- September 11: Mugabe, Tsvangirai and MDC faction leader Arthur Mutambara agree on a landmark deal to share power in a unity government.

- September 15: The three leaders sign the deal at a ceremony in Harare.