TIMELINE: Hope in Zimbabwe's election crisis

(Reuters) - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Monday signed a framework deal committing their political parties to talks to end the country's deep crisis.

Here is a chronology of events since the widely condemned June 27 run-off presidential election, boycotted by Tsvangirai and his opposition Movement for Democratic Change.

June 29 - Mugabe is declared winner of the run-off presidential election with 85.51 percent of the vote and sworn in for a new five-year term.

-- Pan-African parliament observers say the vote was so flawed it should be rerun.

July 1 - African Union summit in Egypt calls for a government of national unity in Zimbabwe.

-- A Mugabe spokesman rejects the idea of the Kenya-style power-sharing solution.

July 2 - Tsvangirai rejects talks on a unity government, saying Mugabe must first stop violence and accept him as the rightful election winner.

July 4 - Mugabe, defiant despite condemnation of his re-election, says the opposition must drop its claim to power and accept that he was the rightful head of state.

July 5 - South African President Thabo Mbeki meets Mugabe to try to help end the crisis. MDC says that Tsvangirai has declined to meet Mbeki.

July 8 - The Group of Eight leaders agree at their annual summit, to impose sanctions against Zimbabwe's leadership because of violence during the widely condemned re-election.

July 11 - Russia and China veto a Western-backed U.N. Security Council resolution to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe.

-- The sanctions would have imposed an arms embargo as well as financial and travel restrictions on Mugabe and 13 other senior Zimbabwean officials.

July 16 - Mugabe accuses Britain of trying to seize control of resources in Zimbabwe, as his government announces inflation had risen to 2.2 million percent.

-- U.S. President George W. Bush says that he wants a peaceful end to political turmoil and is examining more U.S. sanctions.

July 17 - Talks to resolve the election crisis stall after Tsvangirai refuses to sign a framework for negotiations.

July 20 - Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga says the opposition is now preparing to hold talks with Mugabe's party.