Former South African President Thabo Mbeki arrived in Zimbabwe tonight in a bid to save the power-sharing deal between Robert Mugabe and the opposition.
The visit by Mr Mbeki, the longtime mediator in Zimbabwe's crisis who brokered last month's power-sharing deal, also follows an announcement in state media that President Mugabe would award key cabinet posts to his own party.
Mr Mbeki, who did not address reporters after arriving in Harare, is to meet negotiators from the rival parties to try to salvage the deal.
President Mugabe swore in Joyce Mujuru and Joseph Msika as vice Presidents earlier today.
His decision to install the two came two days after state media announced that he would award the most important cabinet posts to his own party.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has already threatened to pull out of the power-sharing deal, saying Mr Mugabe had violated the spirit of the pact meant to forge a unity government to end months of political unrest.
'Whatever appointments or acts that do not address the woes of the country are meaningless,' said Nelson Chamisa, spokesman for Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change.
South Africa's former president Thabo Mbeki was expected in Harare later today to meet with negotiators from the rival parties to try to salvage the deal, which he brokered four weeks ago.
'He will meet with them starting from today, separately and jointly,' Mr Mbeki's spokesman Mukoni Ratshitanga told wire services.
Both Ms Mujuru and Mr Msika have served as vice presidents for years, and their posts were not among the disputed cabinet portfolios.
But Mr Mugabe's decision to bring them to office without consulting the MDC casts a pall over Mr Mbeki's latest mission before he even arrived.
EU condemns 'unilateral' move
Mr Mugabe's moves to tighten his grip on the cabinet would ensure his continued control over the military, police, and other security agencies.
Under the power-sharing deal, 84-year-old Mr Mugabe would remain as president while Mr Tsvangirai would take the new post of prime minister. Their two parties were supposed to split the cabinet posts along with a small MDC splinter group.
But Mr Mugabe has left the MDC holding 13 mostly minor posts, while the MDC faction led by Arthur Mutambara would receive three.
In a joint statement, EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg condemned 'the unilateral decision to form a new government which has not been agreed by all parties'.
They said they were ready to consider additional measures if the power-sharing deal remains blocked, referring to possible new sanctions against Mr Mugabe and his associates.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband condemned what he called Mr Mugabe's attempted power grab.
'I think it is very important that a European signal goes out that we will have no part, and play no part in supporting a power grab by the Mugabe regime,' Mr Miliband told reporters as he arrived for the talks.
The MDC argues that Mr Mugabe's arrangement violates the spirit of the power-sharing deal, after the party won control of parliament in legislative elections earlier this year.
Mr Tsvangirai also defeated Mr Mugabe in a first round presidential vote in March, but pulled out of a June run-off because of violence against his supporters that the MDC says left at least 100 dead.
The power-sharing deal had been praised as an historic breakthrough that could end the political unrest and rescue the country from economic ruin.
Zimbabwe has the world's highest inflation, last measured at 231 million percent, chronic shortages of food and foreign currency, and crumbling infrastructure.
