Zimbabwe Opposition Faction In Alliance With ZANU-PF Rebel Makoni

Zimbabwe Opposition Faction In Alliance With ZANU-PF Rebel Makoni

VOA

By Brenda Moyo, James Butty, Thomas Chiripasi & Loirdham Moyo

Washington, Harare & Mutare 14 February 2008

A senior official of one of Zimbabwe's two main opposition
formations said Thursday that the Movement for Democratic Change
faction led by Arthur Mutambara will join forces with Simba
Makoni, a former finance minister the ruling party has expelled.

Vice President Gibson Sibanda of the Mutambara MDC formation
said the deal would be announced Friday in a joint news
conference by Mutambara and Makoni. Such an alliance would
undermine the candidacies of both President Robert Mugabe,
seeking re-election, and Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC founder who
is also running.

Sibanda told reporter Brenda Moyo of VOA's Studio 7 for
Zimbabwe that his formation strongly believes in a united front
against President Mugabe.

The Mutambara and Tsvangirai factions recently announced
that they had not been able to overcome their differences to
reunite behind a single presidential candidate.

Mutambara has not formally declared his candidacy, and
Sibanda's announcement of a deal suggests he may throw the
weight of his faction, generally considered to have a smaller
membership than Tsvangirai's grouping, behind Makoni's breakaway
bid.

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