Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe said on Monday tough issues in power-sharing talks to end the country's protracted crisis "will be overcome" as a second day of negotiations with his rivals ended.

Mugabe along with opposition Movement for Democratic Change chief Morgan Tsvangirai and the head of a smaller MDC faction, Arthur Mutambara, had spent some four hours at a Harare hotel in the follow-up to marathon talks the previous day.

Asked about sticking points as he left the hotel in the evening, the 84-year-old president said "they will be overcome," adding that the talks mediated by South African President Thabo Mbeki would continue on Tuesday.

Tsvangirai said "negotiations have been adjourned until tomorrow" as he exited, adding: "We will advise on progress later."

Mutambara said simply that the talks were adjourning until Tuesday as he left and refused further comment.

Closing in on a deal

The meetings came amid signs that the bitter rivals had closed in on a power-sharing deal following Mugabe's controversial and widely condemned re-election in a one-man poll on 27 June.

Both Mbeki's government and Mugabe had reported progress in the talks ahead of the South African leader's arrival in Harare on Saturday.

Negotiators, however, have been tight-lipped over details of the talks.

Speaking earlier on Monday during commemorations honouring fighters who died in the liberation war against white minority rule, Mugabe said Zimbabwe "was not for sale" and "will never be a colony again".

He also called for "unity guided by basic principles".

"If you are on the enemy's side or you are being used by enemies, stop it," said Mugabe.

The Zimbabwean leader has often sought to portray Tsvangirai as a stooge of former colonial power Britain, though his rhetoric has cooled in recent weeks after the two sides engaged in talks.

He said "when somebody makes you turn against each other, you don't say we are no longer family members."

Some kind of disagreement

Sunday's talks broke up more than 13 hours after the leaders gathered at the hotel, with Mugabe saying afterwards he was "confident" a deal was within reach.

Mutambara spokesperson Edwin Mushoriwa said however that "14 hours of discussion means there is some kind of disagreement. If it was an agreement, it would have been in two hours."

On Sunday, bouquets of flowers and chairs were brought into the ballroom at the hotel where on 21 July the rivals signed a deal laying the framework for power-sharing negotiations.

Zimbabwe's crisis intensified following the June poll, after Mugabe defied regional and international calls to postpone the run-off election and pushed ahead with it anyway, handing himself another term as president.

Tsvangirai boycotted the presidential run-off despite finishing ahead of Mugabe in the March first round vote, citing violence against his supporters that had killed dozens and injured thousands.

The opposition leader believes his first-round total gives him the right to the lion's share of power. The ruling Zanu-PF party has insisted Mugabe must be recognised as president in any deal, as he won on 27 June.

Negotiations have reportedly included proposals for Mugabe, who has ruled since independence from Britain in 1980, to take on a more ceremonial role in exchange for amnesty from prosecution, with Tsvangirai being made executive prime minister.

AFP