Tsvangirai: Aide's arrest undermines accord
Zimbabwe's new prime minister today blamed the arrest of one of his top aides on factions who want to destroy the country's coalition government.
Morgan Tsvangirai said he would meet with President Robert Mugabe later today to discuss the arrest of Roy Bennett, who was due to be inaugurated as deputy minister of agriculture in the coming week.
Mr Bennett was detained by police on Friday while Mr Tsvangirai and Mr Mugabe were presiding over the inauguration of senior Cabinet ministers.
Mr Bennett's arrest illustrates the deep gulf of mistrust Mr Mugabe's ZANU-PF party and Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change must bridge. A pro-Mugabe newspaper reported today that Mr Bennett was arrested because of an alleged plot from 2006 to overthrow Mr Mugabe, resurrecting a long-discredited claim.
The arrest was a test for Mr Tsvangirai, who had hesitated to join the government for fear he would be in the position of having to answer increasingly desperate calls by Zimbabweans for help, with little power to affect change.
Mr Bennett's "safety was guaranteed by the South African and Zimbabwean governments," Mr Tsvangirai said. "His arrest ... raises a lot of concerns. It undermines the spirit of our agreement. It is very important to maintain the momentum of our agreement."
But Mr Tsvangirai called for patience: "I must say, we have to budget for some residual resistance from those who see this deal as a threat to their interest."
Mr Tsvangirai did not specify, but there long has been speculation Mr Mugabe was under pressure from aides in the military and government who don't want to give up power and prestige to their rivals.
Some Tsvangirai allies, meanwhile, say he never should have agreed to serve as prime minister alongside Mr Mugabe, who has led the country for nearly three decades and is accused of engineering its economic collapse and trampling on democracy.
An independent human rights group known as WOZA said scores of its members were arrested in the southern city of Bulawayo as they held a Valentine's Day march calling for peaceful change. Even before Mr Bennett's arrest, scores of Tsvangirai supporters and independent rights activists had been detained in recent weeks.
Mr Tsvangirai called for detainees to be freed before he took the prime minister's oath on Wednesday and visited several on his first full day in office Thursday.
"We want them released," Mr Tsvangirai said, predicting that would be a priority when the new Cabinet ministers start work Monday. The first Cabinet meeting has been set for Tuesday.
Mr Tsvangirai said he believed the coalition Cabinet could make progress together, and called his relationship with Mr Mugabe a "working arrangement".
"But obviously with our history we cannot immediately say we are the best of friends," he said. "As you begin to trust, the walls will start falling down."
Mr Tsvangirai expressed frustration that resistance to the agreement was distracting the new government from the monumental tasks of rebuilding a country with the world's highest inflation rate, a hunger crisis that has left most of the population dependent on foreign handouts, and a cholera epidemic that has killed more than 3,500 people since August.
"We should be talking about feeding the people," Mr Tsvangirai said. "Our motivation is to get the civil servants back to work and the schools and the hospitals back to serving the people. There's no way we will neglect our obligation, even though there are signs of resistance."
Mr Tsvangirai's detained aide, Mr Bennett, is a white Zimbabwean who is fluent in the local Shona language and a well-known figure in the country. His coffee farm in eastern Zimbabwe was seized years ago by ruling party supporters.
He was one of three white lawmakers elected during 2000 parliamentary elections. In 2005, he served several months in prison, a punishment imposed by the ZANU-PF dominated Parliament for shoving then-Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa during a parliamentary debate.
Mr Chinamasa was among the Mugabe loyalists sworn in alongside Mr Tsvangirai appointees Friday.
Mr Bennett had planned to fly to neighbouring South Africa on Friday to spend time with relatives. He was arrested at a small airport outside Harare, and was still being held at a police station on Saturday. His party said police had told its officials Mr Bennett would be charged with treason, which carries the death penalty.
The MDC said scores of its members camped outside the police station overnight in a show of support for Mr Bennett, even after police fired into the air at one point to try to disperse them.
