Zimbabwe's Ex-Opposition MDC Mulls Break With Gov't

HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Zimbabwe's former opposition party said Monday it would boycott the next Cabinet meeting and was considering disengaging from a troubled, four-month-old unity government with President Robert Mugabe.

The Movement for Democratic Change has complained about continued harassment and arrests of Mugabe's opponents and his unilateral appointments of top officials.

Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, bitter rivals, formed their coalition in February, pressed by neighbors to end a decade of violent confrontation and work together to resolve the southern African nation's severe economic crisis.

MDC Vice President Thokozani Khupe said the latest irritant came Monday, when Mugabe rescheduled the weekly Cabinet meeting from Wednesday to Monday because he was going to be out of town for an African Union summit in Libya. At a news conference, Khupe depicted that as a snub to Tsvangirai, her party's leader, saying he should have chaired the meeting in Mugabe's absence.

Mugabe's party "has not welcomed MDC as an equal partner," said Khupe, a deputy prime minister in the unity government.

Khupe said her party would boycott the rescheduled Cabinet meeting, but remained "committed to the (coalition) agreement in the interest of our people" despite "clear evidence of the absence of a reliable and honest partner."

She did not say when MDC ministers would resume attending Cabinet meetings.
"It is our constitutional right to consider disengagement," she said. "It is time toxicity and insanity are removed (from the coalition)."

The MDC has asked the Southern African Development Community, which pushed for the coalition government to be formed, to intervene. It is asking for help in resolving issues such as Mugabe's appointment of loyalists as the central bank governor and the attorney general, the arrests of and attacks on independent rights activists and MDC lawmakers, and the seizures of white-owned farms.

Khupe said Mugabe loyalists had also frustrated democratic and media reforms.
The Southern African Development Community, though, has said it did not see a reason to step in now.