It is far too soon to call the power-sharing agreement between Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai a great leap forward. Much still has to be settled. It is not too soon, however, to begin hoping for a near-peaceful transition to democratic rule in Zimbabwe.

Mugabe, 84, has ruled the nation of 12.3 million since it won independence from Britain in 1980. Once viewed as a liberating hero by his fellow countrymen and much of the rest of the world, he grew tyrannical, brutally suppressed his opponents, and plunged the once-prosperous nation into economic despair after confiscating the lands of white farmers.

In March elections, Tsvangirai won 48 percent of the vote to Mugabe's 42 percent. Through murder and beatings, Mugabe's security forces intimidated the opposition and handily won a June primary that most of the world viewed as a sham.

Western economic sanctions and pressure from neighboring African Union nations forced Mugabe and his ruling ZANU-PF party to enter into power-sharing talks with Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change. Those talks culminated with this week's elaborate signing ceremony in the capital, Harare.

Mugabe will remain president, and Tsvangirai will become prime minister. The ZANU-PF will get 15 Cabinet seats, MDC will get 13, and a smaller party will get three. The major question that remains is how the security forces will be controlled. If they remain loyal to Mugabe, the power-sharing arrangement will fail.

The people of Zimbabwe, where inflation is running at more than 11 million percent a year and there are few jobs, desperately need to see the two leaders working together. It really is the only way the nation can survive.

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