MDC leader arrives in Zimbabwe

Описание: (28 Jan 2009)
Zimbabwe opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai arrived back in Harare on Wednesday and said his party would look into reports that it had agreed to form a unity government with President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF.
Responding to the announcement made by Southern African leaders on Tuesday, Tsvangirai's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party said no decision had been made.
"We have our position regarding certain decisions in that communique," he said of the reports.
Southern African leaders declared on Tuesday that Zimbabwe's rival parties had agreed to form a unity government.
In a communique, nine nations' leaders and Cabinet ministers from four other countries said a Zimbabwean prime minister - the post Tsvangirai is set to hold will be sworn in February 11 after Parliament passes a constitutional amendment creating the post.
Cabinet ministers would be sworn in February 13, the statement from the regional bloc said.
South African President Kgalema Motlanthe, chairman of the Southern African Development Community, confirmed the information telling reporters that the opposition had agreed to the coalition government.
But an opposition statement released soon after said the summit's conclusions fell short of the party's expectations.
An MDC spokesman denied the party had agreed to a unity government.
He said his party's leaders would meet on Friday to decide their next step.
Tsvangirai's comments to reporters on Wednesday upon arrival in Harare were in line with party's previous statements.
The continuing impasse leaves Zimbabwe embroiled in a prolonged and violent political crisis that has ruined a once-prosperous nation.
Half the population of the former food exporter faces starvation and a cholera epidemic caused by the collapse of water services has already killed around three-thousand people.
The United Nations on Tuesday put the death toll from cholera at 2,971, with more than 56-thousand people infected.
Meanwhile, the European Union on Monday added 62 individuals and companies to a blacklist freezing assets and barring travel to those who funnel money to prop up Mugabe and his allies.

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