WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama is scheduled to meet Friday with Zimbabwe's prime minister.Morgan Tsvangirai is in Washington to ask the U.S. to give "transitional support" to his government with President Robert Mugabe, a man many in the West accuse of trampling rights and choking off Zimbabwe's once vibrant economy.
Tsvangirai himself says if it were up to him Mugabe would have retired from politics years ago.
Mugabe insists Western sanctions led to his nation's economic meltdown, charges repeatedly dismissed by the United States and Britain.
Tsvangirai is calling on the West to lift "restrictive measures" against Zimbabwe, asking if the government collapsed, "what would be the future of Zimbabwe?"
* Washington Post
