We don't want to deal with Tsvangirai's meetings
Posted: Wednesday, February 8, 2006

By Bivan Saluseki, postzambia.com

Mwaanga – "TSVANGIRAI'S VISIT WAS INCONSISTENT WITH HIS STATUS"

(ZAMBIA'S) INFORMATION minister Vernon Mwaanga yesterday said Zambia did not want to get involved even remotely in MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai's meetings which he held in Livingstone.

Commenting on reports that Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Tsvangirai met former FBI and CIA agents in Zambia last week, Mwaanga said government knew that Tsvangirai had discussions which were inconsistent with the reasons he had given for coming into the country.

Mwaanga said Tsvangirai went to Sun Hotel in Livingstone and registered under different names.

He said after evaluation, it was found that Tsvangirai's visit was inconsistent with his status hence the decision by the Immigration Department to remove him from Zambia.

"We felt that some of the discussions he had would be better discussed in Zimbabwe rather than in Zambia," he said.

Mwaanga said Zambia enjoyed cordial relations with Zimbabwe and did not want to get involved in the kind of meetings Tsvangirai had while in Zambia.

"We did not want those meetings to be held in our territory," said Mwaanga.

Zimbabwe's Minister of State for National Security, Didymus Mutasa told The Herald that government was seeking to establish the motive behind a secret meeting held between the MDC leadership and a United States of America-funded organisation —Freedom House—in Zambia last week.

According to The Herald, Freedom House is headed by former CIA and FBI agents and claims to be "a voice for democracy and freedom around the world".

"We are very interested in the meeting and we are making a follow-up. We want to know what is going on," said Mutasa.

"Unfortunately, we can't divulge much at this stage because it will work against our interests but this is a matter of national security and we can't ignore it."

Mutasa said Zimbabwe was grateful to the Zambian government for its swift action AGAINST the MDC leadership.

"We are grateful to Zambia and we hope other countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) will act like that in future. We must not allow foreign powers to have their way in our region," he said.

Mutasa said the meeting had also exposed the MDC and the Americans.

"THEY (MDC) CANNOT DO ANYTHING ON THEIR OWN; IT SEEMS EVERYTHING THEY DO IS ORGANISED BY MABHUNU (whites), and if what happened in Zambia is what the Americans call democracy, then their democracy is a sham. Is democracy interference in the affairs of another country?" he asked.

Reprinted from:
www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=6272

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