Harare: The head of a regional team of monitors who oversaw Zimbabwe's one-man election said President Robert Mugabe had given assurances today he would now enter into dialogue on the country's future.

"President Mugabe gave us guarantees that the next step is to bring together Zimbabwean actors and go for negotiations," Angolan Sports Minister Jose Marcos Barrica, head of a 400-strong team of observers from the Southern African Development Community (SADC), told reporters.

"We understand the way to solve the problem in Zimbabwe is through negotiations."

His comments, carried by Zimbabwean state television, came as a SADC delegation met Mugabe at his Harare offices the day after he staged a run-off ballot boycotted by opposition leader and first round winner Morgan Tsvangirai.

SADC leaders had previously urged Mugabe to shelve the ballot, saying the environment was not conducive to free and fair elections.

Mugabe has previously said that he was willing to talk with Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party but only after yesterday's run-off poll, the results of which are expected to be announced later today.

Source : PTI