Make-or-break talks between Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on the formation of a unity government were due to take place in Harare Monday, with both sides showing little hope for a breakthrough.

The talks aimed at ending a four-month impasse on the implementation of September's power-sharing deal will be brokered by a team from the Southern African Development Community (SADC), led by South African President Kgalema Motlanthe, whose country currently holds the bloc's rotating presidency.

The team, which arrived in Harare on Monday morning, also includes South Africa's Thabo Mbeki, SADC's official mediator in Zimbabwe, and Mozambique's President Armando Guebuza.

Ahead of the talks at a city centre hotel, which will focus on sticking points in the formation of the deal that sees Mugabe remain president and Tsvangirai become prime minister of a Kenya-style unity government, the two sides were as far apart as ever.

Mugabe told state media in Zimbabwe at the weekend that Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) had a "last chance" Monday to join the government and that any outstanding issues should be dealt with afterwards.

The MDC, which took the most votes in parliamentary elections last year, responded by saying Sunday it would not "commit political suicide" by becoming a junior governing partner. A breakaway MDC faction led by Arthur Mutambara, which holds the balance of power in parliament, is also involved in the talks.

Tsvangirai's MDC is demanding, among other things, a fairer distribution of ministries and other key positions between it and Mugabe's Zanu-PF, as well as the release from detention of dozens of political prisoners.

Zimbabwe's ongoing cholera and food crises have lent urgency to attempts to get a credible government up and running.

More than 2,200 Zimbabweans are estimated to have died of cholera since August following the breakdown of sewage and water systems and half the population of between 10 and 12 million require food aid. dpa