Nearly a year since Zimbabwe’s coalition government was formed, an official of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s party said while there has been improvement in atmosphere, major differences still remain.

President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara held a mutually respectful end-of-year joint news conference Wednesday raising hopes of progress in the coalition government.

But Nelson Chamisa, spokesman for Prime Minister Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change said the MDC hopes the remaining issues can be resolved by mid-January 2010.

“What is clear is that the delay we have witnessed in terms of the implementation of the GPA (Global Political Agreement) has not been helpful. We would have wished that the issues be resolved, but that has not happened. We have spent almost a year talking about talks,” he said.

Prime Minister Tsvangirai who earlier this year temporarily withdrew from the coalition government, said Wednesday he was optimistic the remaining issues would be resolved by the new year.

Chamisa said those outstanding issues include the case of MDC deputy agriculture minister-designate Roy Bennett.

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