It is reasonable to assume that Zimbabweans are greeting the deal between Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF and Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC with something less than hope and/or elation. As the Guardian wryly observes in an editorial, talk is about the only thing that's cheap in Zimbabwe these days. An accompanying analysis cautions the world not to expect too much.

But it's a post on Sokwanele - which is always a good place to connect with the reality of Zimbabwe - that perhaps expresses the situation best. As "Hope", one of the anonymous contributors writes, Zimbabweans have endured horror much longer than the past few months that the world paid attention to Mugabe's election fraud.

I have this picture in my mind of an exhausted, ragged mixed-bag of

Zimbabweans: some rich, most poor; some elderly, a few young; black and

white people together; some healthy, others hurt and on crutches; all

of us deeply wounded in some way by the events of the previous years. I

hope this picture is in the minds of our leaders too and that it stays

with them through all the negotiations.

Not surprisingly, Hope doesn't expect the negotations to be quick, or fair.

Photo by Flickr user fairbrand.