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October 13, 2010

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Tsvangirai: 6 Mugabe envoys are 'illegal'

ZIMBABWE'S prime minister has asked the United Nations, the European Union and four nations not to recognize six ambassadors the president appointed without consulting him, his party said yesterday.

The government's power-sharing deal requires coalition partners to agree on all senior appointments. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's party said the diplomatic postings were made "illegally and unconstitutionally" and should not be recognized.

Tsvangirai on Monday also asked Italy, Sweden, Switzerland and South Africa to reject the diplomatic credentials of incoming ambassadors.

In another blow to the coalition in the southern African nation, President Robert Mugabe has unilaterally reappointed 10 provincial governors and five new judges, Tsvangirai's party said.

The party said Tsvangirai wrote to Mugabe urging him to "return the country to constitutional rule" under the February 2009 power-sharing agreement brokered by regional leaders. Tsvangirai also informed Chief Justice Godfrey Chiyausiku that his group in the coalition did not accept as valid the posts of the five new judges.

In a review of coalition woes being circulated by his Movement for Democratic Change since the weekend, Tsvangirai said to his dismay and "utter disgust" Mugabe told him at their last regular meeting that he had reappointed his ZANU-PF party's 10 provincial governors.

According to the terms of the coalition constitution, Tsvangirai's party, which won the most votes in violence-ridden parliamentary elections in 2008, was slated to take over five of the governorships, Mugabe received four and a small former opposition splinter group got one.

 

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