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MDC's Tsvangirai says he will return to Harare

Article published on the 2009-01-15 Latest update 2009-01-15 16:46 TU

Zimbabwean opposition activist Bothwell Pasipamire (Credit: Reuters)

Zimbabwean opposition activist Bothwell Pasipamire
(Credit: Reuters)

Zimbabwe's opposition MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has said he will return to the country on Saturday. He's due to attend a meeting aimed at ending the political deadlock in Zimbabwe, alongiside President Robert Mugabe and South African President Kgalema Motlanthe, current chair of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

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Morgan Tsvangirai, announced his return from South Africa.  He has not set foot in Zimbabwe since November 2008, although Robert Mugabe and Tsvangirai signed a power-sharing deal in September, after disputed elections last year.

But the deal stalled over rows about who will control the most powerful ministries.

"It is evidence of the bad faith with which ZANU-PF [Mugabe's party]entered into this agreement," said Tsvangirai.

Nonetheless, Tsvangirai says he still hopes to work with Mugabe, even if he has accused the Zimbabwean leader of underminining the deal.

Meanwhile, state media say two senior Zimbabwe opposition officials have been arrested on charges of threatening police. The police officers were investigating the shooting of Air Marshal Perrence Shiri. The two officials of the opposition MDC appeared in court on Wednesday.

Shiri, a cousin of President Mugabe, was shot and wounded in December in what government officials claimed was part of a build-up of attacks on Mugabe's rule. In recent months, the government has arrested dozens of civil and opposition activists, including government councillor Bothwell Pasipamire (see photo).

Pasipamire held a press conference in Johannesburg earlier this week, describing his abduction. He said four Zimbabwean secret police took him away from his family just after midnight on 13 December, and he said that he was beaten and humiliated at what he described as a torture camp.

The abductees have been accused of recruiting people to undergo military training in Botswana, in order to topple Mugabe. Tsvangirai says the accusations are groundless.