Zuma: SADC Will Act Over Zimbabwe Impasse

Cape Town - President Jacob Zuma said on Tuesday that intervention measures will be taken within the Southern African Development Community and other continental structures, should there be any indication that the provisions of democracy inside Zimbabwe are compromised.

"We have noted that since the establishment of the coalition government in Zimbabwe the nature and extent of violence has subsided," he said, giving a written reply to a Parliamentary question tabled by Athol Trollip, the Democratic Alliance leader in Parliament.

"We are confident that the current coalition government will make greater efforts to make certain that there is wide-spread respect and promotion for the rule of law and human rights, including political rights and freedom of association."

Trollip had asked whether he would make public the report made by retired generals sent to Zimbabwe to investigate the role of the military in the last year's post-election violence, and whether he would send them back again now to probe reports of continued intimidation and harassment.

The President's reply indicated that he would not send them back, and he told Trollip that since the report was only made orally to former president Thabo Mbeki, he had no report available to release.

- I-Net Bridge (News24)

New Crisis for Zimbabwe's All Inclusive Govt

Zimbabwean police arrested a deputy minister from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC party for alleged theft, state media reported today, in a move that could raise tensions in the unity government.

Five MDC lawmakers have been convicted of various crimes since Mr Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe formed a power-sharing government in February, and several more face an assortment of charges.

Deputy Youth Minister Thamsanqa Mahlangu, also the MDC's youth chairman, is alleged to have stolen a mobile phone belonging to Joseph Chinotimba, a staunch Mugabe ally and leader of a group of veterans of Zimbabwe's 1970s liberation war, the Herald newspaper said.

It said the theft took place during a government workshop on a "National Shared Vision", at which the two shared a table. "I can confirm Mahlangu's arrest on charges of theft which occurred on July 17th.

Two other people are being charged," police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena told the Herald.

"They are being charged with breaching sections of the Telecommunications Services Act - using a cellphone line without the consent of the owner." Mr Bvudzijena was not immediately reachable for comment.

The MDC has accused Mr Mugabe of plotting to reduce the party's parliamentary majority through the arrest and jailing of its lawmakers. According to Zimbabwean law, members of parliament lose their seats if they are jailed for more than six months.

* Irish Times

Zimbabwe PM Tsvangirai Sets Consultations With SA President Zuma

Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai will meet Saturday with South African President Jacob Zuma to inform the chairman of the Southern African Development Community on issues dividing the Harare unity government, Mr. Tsvangirai's office said.

Topping the agenda are President Robert Mugabe's unilateral appointments in late 2008 of Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono and Attorney General Johannes Tomana.


Mr. Tsvangirai will also brief Mr. Zuma on what his branch of the Movement for Democratic Change charges has been selective prosecution of its members of parliament by members of the judiciary loyal to President Robert Mugabe's long-ruling ZANU-PF party. The MDC says ZANU-PF is prosecuting its MPs to whittle away at its parliamentary majority.

A spokesman for Mr. Tsvangirai said he will urge Mr. Zuma to call an urgent regional summit to take up these issues. SADC is a guarantor of the September 2008 Global Political Agreement that provides the basis for Zimbabwe's unity government.

Five Tsvangirai MDC formation legislators have been convicted and sentenced on charges that range from causing a public disturbance to rape. Other cases are pending in the courts. The MDC says the charges have been trumped up for political reasons.

Minister of State Gorden Moyo, attached to Mr. Tsvangirai's office, told reporter Ntungamili Nkomo of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that the prime minister hopes the regional organization can broker an amicable agreement on the outstanding issues.

Meanwhile, the MDC said Finance Minister Tendai Biti, secretary general of the party, received an anonymous letter at his Harare home with a bullet advising him to "sort out your estate." The party said it viewed the letter and its contents as constituting a death threat.

The same kind of missive was sent in 2007 to journalist Bill Saidi, editor at that time of the weekly Standard newspaper, but was not followed by an attempt on his life.

The MDC issued a statement condemning the apparent threat. "The terror tactics of sending bullets to cabinet ministers is a sure sign that the desperate forces fighting the new dispensation are getting more and more desperate every day," it said.

* VoA

NCA Urges Halt to Zimbabwean Constitutional Revision Process

Zimbabwe's non-governmental National Constitutional Assembly called on the government and parliament Monday to halt the official constitutional revision process, warning it will urge voters to reject any constitution written by politicians and not "people-driven."

NCA Chairman Lovemore Madhuku told delegates the official constitutional revision process is undemocratic and defective and will therefore produce a flawed document.
Madhuku said the NCA and allied groups including the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions and the Zimbabwe National Students Union will not let politicians rewrite the constitution.

From Harare, correspondent Irwin Chifera of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe reported.

Political analyst Farai Maguwu, director of the Center for Research and Development, said he and staff of his Mutare-based institute attended the NCA's "people's convention" as well as the recent stakeholders conference called by the the parliamentary select committee assigned to oversee the constitutional reform process under last year's power-sharing agreement.

Maguwu told reporter Jonga Kandemiiri of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that it is healthy for Zimbabwean democracy for both groups to hold parallel and competing conferences.

Meanwhile, the parliamentary select committee on constitutional reform is seeking prosecution of those responsible for the disruption of a July 13 stakeholders meeting in Harare.
Committee Co-Chairman Douglas Mwonzora said his panel is drawing on video footage of the meeting and has also compiled a list of people injured during the melee.

Mwonzora told Studio 7 reporter Patience Rusere that prosecution of those responsible for the disturbance will show that the law is not being applied selectively.

Press reports have laid the disruption at the doorstep of Zimbabwe War Veterans Association Vice Chairman Joseph Chinotimba, Deputy Science and Technology Minister Patrick Zhuwao, a nephew of President Robert Mugabe and Youth Minister Saviour Kasukwere.

* VoA

Zimbabwe Military Chiefs Still Won’t Salute Tsvangirai

HARARE, Zimbabwe’s influential generals are still refusing to salute Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai six months after he joined President Robert Mugabe in a unity government, gesture analysts say shows an unwillingness to embrace change.

Almost two months before the first anniversary of the historic September 15 power sharing agreement, which gave Zimbabweans hope that the 85 year-old Mr Mugabe was being eased out of power, an unpalatable reality is beginning to sink in.

Since independence in 1980, the former guerilla leader has ruled with the support of a clique of army generals who have acquired enormous wealth such that dismantling their patronage system will come at a cost.

As head of government, Mr Tsvangirai should be saluted by all the service heads including the head of army, General Constantine Chiwenga and the Commissioner General of police, Augustine Chihuri.

The hope that Mr Tsvangirai’s ascendance to power will be smooth was mainly premised on the fact that his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) had seized control of parliament from Zanu PF for the first time since independence.

But Mr Brilliant Mhlanga, a Zimbabwean academic based at the University of Westminister in the United Kingdom says the feat was a pyrrhic victory as demonstrated by the evolving political developments in the country.

And so much as the opposition has been boasting that they almost control parliament, it is useless, he said. Zanu PF has remained with the repressive state apparatus, defence forces and the judiciary. They have remained in control of all the levers of power to this day.

* The Nation

Zimbabwe Leaders Vow to Continue With Constitutional Reforms

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe said on Monday a new constitution was necessary and strongly condemned clashes between political rivals that halted a conference aimed at drafting reforms.

A convention to draw up a new constitution descended into chaos on Monday as riot police broke up clashes between rival delegates, underscoring the tensions within a unity government Mugabe formed with arch-rival Morgan Tsvangirai in February.

Mugabe and Tsvangirai met to discuss the disturbances after riot police drove the delegates out of the venue and cordoned it off. The two, along with Arthur Mutambara who heads a splinter faction of Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), jointly addressed the media after their meeting.

"We are here to say that we will not brook any further disturbances in the future. We must have this constitution done, it's a necessity," Mugabe told reporters.

"We feel disturbed and we have a sense of abhorrence with what happened this morning. What happened is not in accordance with the letter and spirit of the global political agreement. This is not the time to be shouting insults to each other."

Tsvangirai said he hoped the parliamentary committee driving the constitutional reforms would regroup and resume the process.

"We had provided our people with hope and we have people trying to undermine that hope," Tsvangirai said.

"I hope that the speaker of parliament and the parliamentary select committee can put the process back on rail as soon as possible because we need this constitution."

Both Mugabe and Tsvangirai ruled out a probe into the causes of the disruptions, stressing it was important to move forward.

Zimbabwe Constitutional Conference Deferred to Monday

HARARE – Zimbabwe’s constitutional conference has been delayed to Monday after President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF party objected to the meeting taking place tomorrow as had been scheduled.

Douglas Mwonzora, a co-chairperson of a special parliamentary committee leading the constitutional reform process, said the committee met yesterday and resolved to change the date of the conference and to also cut its duration to two days instead of the originally planned four days due to budgetary concerns.

“Having taken into considerations the concerns of ZANU PF and the timeline given in the global political agreement (GPA), the committee decided to move the conference to Monday,” Mwonzora told ZimOnline in an interview.

“We had no mandate to vary the timeline in the GPA. We were confined by the GPA to have the conference on or before July 13. The conference will run for one-and-half days,” said Mwonzora, who is a member of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC party.

Mwonzora chairs the parliamentary committee along with ZANU PF’s Paul Mangwana and David Coltart, a legislator from the smaller MDC formation led by Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara.

The move by the parliamentary committee to shift the conference dates was a major climb down after it initially met on Tuesday and refused to bow down to ZANU PF’s request.

The committee apparently backed down fearing further delay after ZANU PF legislators wrote to the party’s leadership requesting that Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara meet to resolve the dispute over dates of the conference, a development that would have caused even more delays and probably throw the constitutional reform exercise of course.

In demanding postponement of the conference, ZANU PF said there was need to determine who were the stakeholders to send representatives to the key convention and also said logistical matters had to be ironed out before delegates could start travelling from around the country to Harare.

Meanwhile, the government controlled daily newspaper – The Herald – yesterday quoted unnamed ZANU PF lawmakers complaining that the Tsvangirai-led MDC had hijacked the constitution-making process.

Some of the lawmakers accused ZANU PF members in the select committee of allowing "MDC-T legislators in the Select Committee to run the show by themselves".

* Zimonline

Zimbabwe Cabinet Gives Unity Govt Principals Ultimatum To Resolve Disputes

Zimbabwe's power-sharing cabinet issued an ultimatum Wednesday to the three principals in the national unity government to resolve numerous issues that have been straining relations between the Movement for Democratic Change and ZANU-PF sides of the government.

MDC and ZANU-PF sources told VOA that Wednesday’s cabinet meeting was tense with extended and heated debate as members from the MDC formation led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai clashed with their ZANU-PF counterparts.

The latter were said to have been agitated over last week’s MDC boycott of a cabinet meeting.

The MDC raised the stakes this week demanding compliance in full with the Global Political Agreement signed in September 2008 by President Robert Mugabe, Tsvangirai and now-Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara. Senior members of the Tsvangirai MDC formation accused ZANU-PF of attempting to torpedo the unity government.

Contentious issues include an ongoing judicial crackdown on MDC and civic activists, the delay in swearing in MDC Treasurer Roy Bennett as deputy agriculture minister, the appointments of provincial governors and the failure of the National Security Council to convene.

Government sources said the three principals will brief the cabinet next Tuesday on how much time they will need to settle the outstanding issues.

* VoA

MDC Formation of Zimbabwe PM Insists Central Banker Gono Must Leave

Reported comments by Zimbabwean Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara on Wednesday returned a dispute within the country's fractious national unity government over the tenure of Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono to the political front burner.

Mutambara was quoted in the state-controlled Herald newspaper as urging Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to work with the central banker, accused by many of stoking hyperinflation and misappropriating funds, instead of demanding he be sacked or step down.

Reached by VOA, Mutambara said he could not comment as he was in a meeting.

The Herald said Mutambara made the remarks Tuesday in a meeting with small-scale miners. The paper said Gono himself was present along with other government officials.

The comments brought a statement from Mr. Tsvangirai's formation of the Movement for Democratic Change saying Gono must depart as agreed under the Global Political Agreement signed in September 2008 by President Robert Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara.

* VoA

Zimbabwe Moots Joining Rand Monetary Union

JOHANNESBURG – Zimbabwe’s Industry Minister Welshman Ncube on Tuesday said the southern African country would explore the possibility of joining the rand monetary union to end use of multiple currencies.

Harare instituted the use of multiple foreign currencies alongside the Zimbabwe dollar in January in a move analysts said was an acknowledgement of the collapse of the local currency due to hyperinflation – the most visible sign of a severe economic crisis blamed on President Robert Mugabe's controversial policies.

In March the new unity government’s Finance Minister Tendai Biti announced the death of the Zimbabwe dollar. Since then debate on whether to return the local currency has intensified because the US dollar was unavailable to a majority of people in the countryside.

Mugabe has said the local currency should be brought back but Biti told reporters on Monday that a return to the Zimbabwe dollar was a "very long way" off.

"We cannot re-enter the Zimbabwe dollar without the economy to support that, we need another solution. We cannot continue forever with multiple currencies," Ncube told the international media at an Africa forum in London.

"If we can at least join the rand monetary union, we will have money allocated to Zimbabwe through that system. No decision has been made, we will debate it and see what the best alternative is."

The rand monetary union is currently made up of Namibia, Swaziland and Lesotho who all use the South African rand alongside their own currencies.

Ncube said Biti’s mid-term monetary review, due on July 14, would include a report on the implications of joining the rand monetary union.

* Zimonline

Zimbabwe Teachers to Strike Over Wages

HARARE (AFP) — Zimbabwe school teachers will go on strike Friday to pressure the government to increase their salaries, the teachers union said.

"We have resolved to boycott classes and stay away from schools on Friday the 10th and July 17 ...," union president Takavafira Zhou said Tuesday.

Teachers are demanding a monthly salary increase of 454 US dollars from the current 100 dollars (72 euros), said Zhou.

Zhou warned that more boycotts will follow if government does not respond to their demands by next week.

"Further class boycotts and stay aways every Thursday and Friday starting from July 23 will take place if government does not respond to our demand," Zhou told a news conference.

Zimbabwe teachers had returned to work in February following the creation of a unity government after striking since early last year to demand payment in foreign currency to cope with galloping inflation.

The embattled government has appealed for funds to rebuild the economy shattered by years of political strife.

Last week, China extended a 950-million-dollar loan to Zimbabwe, the largest amount secured by the new government since the power-sharing deal.

Mugabe Heaps Abuse on US Africa Envoy Carson

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe through state media Monday issued a diatribe against the top U.S. diplomat for Africa, Assistant Secretary of State Johnnie Carson, following their meeting last week at African Union summit in Libya, calling him "an idiot."

In comments published by the state-controlled Herald newspaper, Mr. Mugabe said he was incensed with Carson, who he said displayed a “condescending attitude” when they met.

“Who is he? I hope he was not speaking for” U.S. President Barack Obama, Mr. Mugabe was quoted as saying. “You wouldn’t speak to an idiot of that nature,” Mugabe said of Carson. "I was very angry with him, and he thinks he could dictate to us what to do.”

State Department Spokesman Ian Kelly declined to respond specifically to Mr. Mugabe's remarks. But, "our concerns about Mr. Mugabe are well known," he said.

"I have tremendous respect for Assistant Secretary Carson," Kelly told reporters. "He is our most experienced diplomat in African affairs. He's one of the most talented people we have. And I don't see why anybody would have, could use those, kinds of characterizations."

Mr. Mugabe addressed similarly insulting remarks last year to Carson’s predecessor, Jendayi Frazer.

Political analyst Glen Mpani of the Center for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation in Cape Town, South Africa, said Mr. Mugabe’s comments were intended to undermine Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s efforts to revitalize ties with Washington.

Mr. Tsvangirai met with the U.S. President Barack Obama last month in Washington in a bit to restore relations between Washington and Harare which deteriorated over the past decade as the previous U.S. administration criticized Mr. Mugabe's record on human rights among other issues, imposing targeted sanctions against the president and his inner circle.

Elsewhere, U.S ambassador to Zimbabwe James McGee departed the country Sunday without the final interview with President Mugabe he had requested. McGee is to be succeeded in Harare by career diplomat Charles Ray.

In a recent interview, the outbound McGee told reporter Blessing Zulu that the Zimbabwean people had to stand up for themselves and demand better government.

* VoA

Zimbabwe's Mugabe Meets Top U.S. Africa Envoy on AU Summit Sidelines

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe met Thursday on the sidelines of the African Union summit in Libya with the top U.S. diplomat for Africa, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson, Zimbabwean state media and wire services reported.

It was Mr. Mugabe's first meeting with a senior U.S. official in some years.

Few details of the meeting in the Mediterranean city have been disclosed. But in an interview before the meeting, Carson said Washington will not lift sanctions against Mr. Mugabe and members of his inner circle until irreversible change in Zimbabwe is confirmed.

Such changes include full implementation of the September 2008 Global Political Agreement underpinning the current power-sharing government in Harare, opening-up to international media to cover the country, a lifting of restrictions on domestic media, and an end to the harassment of political opponents and human rights activists by authorities.

The state-controlled Herald newspaper said Mr. Mugabe briefed Carson on the so-called inclusive government he formed in February with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who visited Washington last month and met with President Barack Obama.

* VoA

Zimbabwe PM Tsvangirai Under Pressure From His Party Over Prosecutions

Faced with mounting dissatisfaction within his formation of the Movement for Democratic Change, Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has called for an urgent meeting with his partners in the country's chronically troubled national unity government.

Senior MDC officials have warned Mr. Tsvangirai that six of the party’s members of Parliament are at risk of losing their seats due to prosecutions by judicial authorities loyal to President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF whom they accuse of bringing unfounded criminal charges.

The party boycotted a cabinet meeting Monday over the widening pattern of prosecutions which have landed one Manicaland province lawmaker in prison for seven years.

MDC sources say party leaders and members are increasingly unhappy with Mr. Tsvangirai’s defense of the unity government while his own party members are being targeted.

Political analyst Glen Mpani of Cape Town, South Africa, told reporter Blessing Zulu of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that Mr. Tsvangirai’s meeting on Monday with Mr. Mugabe and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara is unlikely to be fruitful.

* VoA

Zimbabwe Army to Withdraw From 'Diamond' Region

Zimbabwe's government has agreed to withdraw soldiers from diamond mining fields amid criticism over human rights abuses, state-run media reports.

It quoted the deputy mines minister in the unity government as saying soldiers would be withdrawn "in phases".

Troops deployed to the Marange diamond fields last year after disputed polls.
The army says it was to prevent illegal mining, but rights groups accuse them of involvement in forced labour and an alleged massacre of diamond diggers.

A team from the Kimberley Process - the organisation which aims to stop the use of diamonds to fund conflict - is currently in Zimbabwe investigating the allegations of abuse.

We agreed to remove soldiers but it will be done in phases while proper security settings would be put in place,

It urged the unity government formed in February to demilitarise the diamond fields in the east of the country.

"We agreed to remove soldiers but it will be done in phases while proper security settings would be put in place," Deputy Mines Minister Murisi Zwizwai is quoted by Zimbabwe's Sunday Mail newspaper as saying.

* BBC

Zimbabwe Denies Marange Diamonds Allegations

HARARE (AFP) — Zimbabwe on Monday denied it was violating international regulations on conflict diamonds, as a Kimberley Process team started a probe of the country's eastern Marange diamond fields.

Mining secretary Thankful Musukutwa told journalists in the capital that complaints against Zimbabwe for trading in rough diamonds and violating human rights were not true.

"Under the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS), conflict diamonds are rough diamonds used by rebel movements or their allies to finance conflict armies at undermining legitimate governments," he said about the scheme against "blood diamonds".

"There is no armed conflict or any involvement of a rebel army or movement in Zimbabwe; therefore Marange diamonds do not fall within KPCS definition of conflict diamonds."
A Human Rights Watch report out Friday accused Zimbabwe's armed forces of using torture and forced labour to control the Marange fields, saying more than 200 people had been killed last year.

Zimbabwe last week denied any killings by security forces.

"What we have in Marange are illegal panners who from time to time evade security forces and engage themselves in illegal digging and trading of diamonds," said Musukutwa on Monday.

The Kimberley team's visit was announced on Friday after a three day conference in Namibia where chairman Bernard Esau said the group had no proof of rights violations in Marange but had noted the HRW report.

Musukutwa said Monday's visit is the third by the scheme. "During the last two visits, they found Zimbabwe fully compliant with KPCS rules and regulations," he said.

Zimbabwe Obtains $950 Million Credit Line From China

(Bloomberg) -- Zimbabwe will receive $950 million of loans from China, nearly double the amount raised during Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s three-week trip to the U.S. and Europe.

The southern African country received “pledges” worth about $500 million from the U.S. and Europe, Tsvangirai said today in an e-mailed statement from the capital, Harare.

“In our drive to rebuild Zimbabwe, we are not limited to a ‘look west’ or ‘look east’ policy, but rather we are committed to engaging our friends in all parts of the globe,” he said.

Zimbabwe needs funds to rebuild its economy after a decade- long economic and political crisis led to famine, disease and hyperinflation. An impasse between Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change and President Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front ended in February when the two parties agreed to form a coalition government.

Since the accord was signed, the MDC has had disputes with Zanu-PF, including Mugabe’s appointment of central bank Governor Gideon Gono and Attorney-General Johannes Tomana.

The MDC accuses the two men of supporting Zanu-PF. Yesterday, the MDC threatened to pull out of the unity government unless it is treated as an “equal partner” by Mugabe’s party.
Tsvangirai said today more loans may be forthcoming if the differences are resolved.

MDC MP Criticises Leader Tsvangirai Over Hypocrisy

MASVINGO – Harrison Mudzuri, the legislator for Zaka Central representing the MDC, has attacked his party’s president, Morgan Tsvangirai, saying he is pretending all is well in Zimbabwe when violations continue despite the establishment of the inclusive government.

Addressing journalists in Masvingo, Mudzuri said Tsvangirai, now Prime Minister in the inclusive government, was not listening to complaints from party members over harassment and political violence.

“Our Prime Minister and party leader is just pretending that things are right in the country when nothing has changed,” said Mudzuri.

“In fact our members are being harassed and arrested everyday, and when you try to tell the Prime Minister, he will say that such complaints will undermine the inclusive government.
“Our people, particularly in Zaka, are being beaten up everyday, and we have nowhere to complain because the Prime Minister says such information undermines the spirit of inclusiveness.”

Mudzuri is the younger brother of MDC national organising secretary Elias Mudzuri, who is also Minister of Energy and Power Development.

Turning to the issue of national healing, Mudzuri said those who killed people during the run-up to the June 27 presidential election runoff should all come out in the open in order for them to be forgiven.

Zaka district experienced some of the worst violence during the run-up to the presidential election runoff boycotted by Tsvangirai because of widespread violence against MDC supporters.
In one of the incidents three MDC supporters were burnt beyond recognition at Jerera Growth Point after the safe house in which they were living was set ablaze by known Zanu-PF supporters.

Five other MDC supporters in the house were seriously injured during the inferno and are still in hospital, almost a year after the incident.

“It is true that we want to forgive,” said Mudzuri, “but who do we forgive? Those who know that they need to be forgiven should first of all come out in the open and admit that they need forgiveness; then we will forgive.”

Mudzuri’s criticism of Tsvangirai comes about a week after the Prime Minister was booed in London for urging Zimbabweans living in the Diaspora to come back home.

The audience, which forced Tsvangirai to cut short his speech, dismissed his call and told the Prime Minister that they would only return after the removal of President Robert Mugabe from power.

Tsvangirai told US and European leaders during his international tour that he had a good working relationship with Mugabe, and that Zimbabwe was on an irreversible path to recovery and democratic reform.

Critics say his optimism was premature.

Back at home, events presented a contrast to Tsvangirai’s positive message. On Monday, his ministers boycotted a cabinet meeting, arguing Mugabe had moved the date of the meeting forward to prevent Tsvangirai from chairing it on Tuesday.

Tsvangirai returned from his tour on Monday as Mugabe was preparing to leave for an African Union meeting on Tuesday, the traditional day of the cabinet meetings.

* Zimbabwe Times