The United Nations and Zimbabwe’s government on Monday launched an international appeal for over US$370m to buy medicine and support for agriculture and education in the country.

The UN’s deputy emergency aid chief said in spite of an improvement in Zimbabwe’s humanitarian situation, it remained fragile.

The team arrived in Zimbabwe on Monday morning and held a meeting with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai at lunchtime.

They were due to meet negotiators from Zanu-PF and the two Movement for Democratic Change factions before reporting back to President Jacob Zuma.

What SADC wants to see is some sort of progress in breaking Zimbabwe’s political deadlock.

That stalemate saw Tsvangirai pulling his ministers out of government for three weeks in October.

There were signs President Robert Mugabe may be willing to budge on smaller issues like the appointment of provincial governors from the MDC.

Huge sticking points remain: the Central Bank chief and the attorney general are still in place and that is what the MDC is particularly angry about.