Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Sunday defended his decision to enter a power-sharing government with President Robert Mugabe, a day after being heckled offstage by protesters in London.The two bitter rivals joined in a coalition government in February.
The move has not gone down well with many Zimbabwean exiles, who blame Mugabe for years of economic collapse and political repression.
Protesters jeered Tsvangirai at a London church on Saturday when he appealed to expatriates to return home and rebuild the southern African country.
Tsvangirai told BBC television that Zimbabwe was making progress toward democracy and that free elections would be held in two years.
He said the coalition was "not perfect... but certainly we are on the way and it's irreversible".
"We went in this government to achieve one thing - it is to achieve ultimately democracy and democratic elections," Tsvangirai said.
He said Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since 1980, "has already accepted that this is a process of transition and that after two years we should go for an election".
Tsvangirai acknowledged there was a long way to go. Zimbabwe has had the highest inflation rate in the world, most of the population lacks food, human rights abuses persist and thousands have died during a major cholera outbreak.
* SAPA
