Germany doubles aid to struggling Zimbabwe

GERMANY said Monday it will double humanitarian aid to Zimbabwe after the country's president and the main rival opposition leader agreed on a deal to share power.

"Even after the power-sharing deal between President Robert Mugabe and prime minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai the situation with supplies for the Zimbabwean population remains desolate," the German foreign ministry said.

German aid is being doubled to around two million euros (2.9 million dollars), the ministry in Berlin said in a statement.

Mugabe and Tsvangirai signed the deal September 15 after months of tough negotiations.

The agreement comes after the international community widely condemned the Zimbabwe's presidential elections as unfair. Tsvangirai pushed Mugabe into second place in the March first round vote, but he pulled out of the June run-off vote after a wave of deadly attacks against his supporters.

Mugabe's ZANU-PF party, Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and a smaller MDC opposition faction have yet to agree on who will hold certain key ministries in the new cabinet.

Norway said Friday it would give Zimbabwe 40 million kroner (7.02 million dollars, 4.86 million euros) in aid to help the country deal with a lack of food and clean drinking water and a cholera outbreak.

Britain's ambassador to the United Nations, John Sawers, said the same day that his country would only support Zimbabwe's recovery if there was "genuine" sharing of power.

Zimbabwe's economy has been in decline for a decade with sky-high unemployment, devastating food shortages, crippling poverty and the world's highest rate of inflation.

The European Union has so far left sanctions in place since last week's deal, saying it wants to see democratic improvements. - AFP