A month after the signing of a power-sharing accord in this troubled southern African country, talks collapsed late Friday over formation of a coalition government.

Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), described the situation as a dead end. He called for help from the African Union and the
14-nation regional political group, the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

The international mediation panel that has been involved in the conflict plans to meet Monday in the mountain kingdom of Swaziland to confer.

MDC delivered the first election defeat ever to President Robert Mugabe's ZANU (PF) party in March, denying it the parliamentary majority. Mugabe was declared the winner of a run-off presidential election, the legitimacy of which has been called into question by the international community.

"We are concerned by the attempt to push the MDC into a meaningless position in the coalition government," Tsvangirai said late Friday evening.

Earlier, Mugabe indicated the talks were not going in the direction he had wanted.

Under the agreement brokered on September 15 by former South African President Thabo Mbeki, ZANU (PF) was to receive 15 cabinet posts, MDC 13 and a smaller opposition group three.

ZANU (PF) and MDC have been wrestling over which party gets what post in a coalition government that would leave Mugabe as president and Tsvangirai as head of government.

Mbeki returned to Harare on Monday to find the agreement on the brink of collapsing after Mugabe last weekend unilaterally allocated the most important cabinet posts to Zanu-PF - including the defence ministry and home affairs, which would give him total control of the country's security forces.

The collapse of the talks come as aid organizations are warning of a famine catastrophe in the country once known as the breadbasket of Africa.

The major stumbling block in negotiations has been the ministry of home affairs, which includes control of the police force.

Tsvangirai insists that control of the uniformed forces has to be balanced, and has conceded the control of the defence ministry to the 84-year-old Mugabe.

Under his control for the last 28 years since independence, the country's economy has collapsed with inflation conservatively put at 231 million per cent, while the currency yesterday continued its headlong crash, reaching 50 million Zimbabwe dollars to the US dollar on Thursday, from 100 Zimbabwe dollars to the US dollar in early August, when the regime redenominated its currency by slashing off 10 zeroes.

Sources said that Mugabe on Thursday night agreed to cede control of the finance ministry to the MDC.

MDC sources said Friday Tsvangirai had been made an offer on Thursday night of a new home affairs ministry with control revolving between the two.

"Morgan rejected it," said the source. "He is resolute, and so is his negotiating team. It's home affairs or nothing. ZANU(PF) has nothing new to offer. They are just trying to wear him down into accepting. Morgan says he cannot deliver to the people without home affairs."

Observers say the impasse is dramatically aggravating a humanitarian catastrophe, as famine begins to claim the lives of hundreds of starving children whose parents have no food.

By January almost one in two people will be dependent on food aid, although famine relief operations have barely resumed after a three- month ban imposed by Mugabe.

Late Thursday, James McGee, the United States ambassador to Zimbabwe said aid - except humanitarian - would not be resumed, nor would targeted sanctions against members of Mugabe's power clique be lifted until there was "evidence of long-term political and economic reform. "Until then, it will not happen," he said.