Oct. 29 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. State Department criticized Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, and his political party for failing to fulfill a power-sharing agreement with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.

``We condemn the Mugabe regime's refusal to implement a genuine and equitable power-sharing agreement and its continued use of violence against peaceful demonstrators,'' Sean McCormack, State Department spokesman, said in a statement.

Talks between Zimbabwe's main political parties didn't make meaningful gains at a meeting hosted by the Southern African Development Community on Oct. 27.

Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front party and the Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC reached the agreement on Sept. 15. The agreement, brokered by former South African President Thabo Mbeki, gave Zanu-PF a one-seat minority in a 31- member cabinet. It didn't allocate ministries to either the MDC or Zanu-PF, leading to over a month of stalemate.

The parties remained deadlocked earlier this week over who should control Zimbabwe's home affairs ministry. The ministry is responsible for the police, which the MDC accuses of continuing human-rights abuses against voices of dissent.

The agreement was supposed to end a six-month deadlock that followed elections on March 29. In those polls, the MDC won more seats than Zanu-PF, its first-ever election defeat. Tsvangirai got the most votes in a presidential election, though the state- appointed Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said he didn't win the more than 50 percent needed to avoid a second round. Tsvangirai boycotted the runoff because of violent attacks on his supporters.

The U.S. will continue to provide food and other humanitarian assistance to the people of Zimbabwe, McCormack's statement said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Ryan Flinn in San Francisco at rflinn@bloomberg.net; Brian Latham via Johannesburg at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 29, 2008 17:18 EDT