"We shall soon be setting up a government. The MDC does not want to come in apparently," state-owned newspaper The Herald quoted Mugabe as telling government officials on Tuesday after opening parliament.

Mugabe, who was booed and jeered by opposition members when he opened the assembly, has said he is still hopeful of agreement in post-election power-sharing talks with Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC, aimed at ending a political crisis.

The MDC said it remained committed to talks but the party insisted on an inclusive government.

"We have expressed confidence in the dialogue, we remain committed to a dialogue process that is going to produce an acceptable outcome for all the players, an inclusive government. We are against this unilateralism and arrogance," MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said.

The talks, which began a month ago, were still taking place, Zimbabwe's new parliamentary speaker, Lovemore Moyo, said on Wednesday.

"The talks are on," Moyo, a senior MDC official, told South Africa's Talk Radio 702. He also said the heckling of Mugabe was regrettable but reflected MDC frustrations over the political deadlock in the country.

ECONOMIC HARDSHIPS

A stalemate in talks between Mugabe and Tsvangirai over how to share power has undermined hopes for an agreement that might allow Zimbabwe to recover from its devastating economic decline.

The world's highest annual inflation rate of over 11 million percent and severe food, fuel and foreign currency shortages have driven millions of Zimbabweans to neighbouring countries.

Mugabe's critics say his policies helped wreck the economy, in particular the seizure of white-owned commercial farms to give them to inexperienced black farmers.

Mugabe criticised his former cabinet strongly on Wednesday.

"The Cabinet that I had was the worst in history. They (only) look at themselves, they are unreliable, but not all of them. The people are suffering...," The Herald quoted him as saying.

The MDC said Mugabe had no right to open parliament. He was re-elected unopposed in a June vote boycotted by Tsvangirai because of violence and condemned around the world.

The opposition party said three of its deputies, elected in polls in March in which the MDC gained the most seats, were arrested at parliament on Tuesday on what it called trumped-up political violence charges.

The MDC said its Secretary-General, Tendai Biti, would again appear in court on treason charges on Wednesday.

Biti was arrested in mid-June and could face the death penalty. He appeared in court on Tuesday but the case was postponed for a day.