Escalating Violence on Agenda as Zimbabwe's Mugabe & Tsvangirai Meet
MDC formation leader Welshman Ncube protested the inclusion of his party rival Arthur Mutambara in the meeting of government principals
Prime Minister Tsvangirai said in a newsletter published this week that the meeting of government principals would take up “state-sponsored violence” carried out by the police, army and other forces loyal to President Robert Mugabe, saying Mr. Mugabe knows what has been going on The three principals in Zimbabwe's government of national unity met on Friday to tackle issues including what Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has charged is widespread urban and rural violence carried out by “vigilantes” of President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party, as well as the timing of the next national elections. Welshman Ncube, president of the Movement for Democratic Change formation formerly led by incumbent Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara, called the meeting illegal. He vowed to take President Mugabe and Prime Minister Tsvangirai to court for allegedly ignoring a court order barring Mutambara from representing the MDC formation. Mutambara signed the 2008 Global Political Agreement for power sharing in his capacity as president of the smaller MDC formation (Mr. Tsvangirai, who founded the MDC in 1999 as an opposition party, is the head of the dominant formation). Mr. Tsvangirai in a newsletter posted on his ZimbabwePrimeMinister.org website said the meeting of the unity government principals would take up “state-sponsored violence” carried out by the police, army and other forces loyal to President Mugabe. Mr. Tsvangirai charged in his newsletter that Mr. Mugbe knows what is going on. Tsvangirai spokesman Luke Tamborinyoka said the principals will instruct various ministries to address a number of issues dividing the government. MDC formation leader Ncube said he was disturbed that meeting of the three unity government principals included Mutambara. But Morgan Changamire, spokesman for a third MDC splinter group led by Mutambara, told VOA Studio 7 reporter Blessing Zulu that Ncube was deluding himself.