PRIME MINISTER TSVANGIRAI . . . if there is anyone who would be afraid of being assassinated, it would be me

JOHANNESBURG – Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Wednesday appealed to Washington to support Harare, saying failure of his coalition government with President Robert Mugabe would see the southern African country slide into chaos.

"I think it will be important for the United States (US) to give transitional support to the government," Tsvangirai told the Council on Foreign Relations ahead of his meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday before he holds talks with President Barack Obama in the oval office on Friday.

"If this government were to collapse because it had failed to raise sufficient resources, what is there to replace it, and what would be the future of Zimbabwe?"

The Zimbabwean Premier who formed a unity government with Mugabe in February is on a three-week trip to America and Europe to try to drum up financial support for the power-sharing government.

Western nations who have long isolated Zimbabwe, accusing Mugabe of trampling on democracy and ruining a once-vibrant economy, are withholding direct financial support to the Harare administration unconvinced Mugabe is genuinely committed to democratic change or to sharing power with his former opposition foes.

A US Senate resolution on Tuesday said targeted travel and financial restrictions on Mugabe and his ZANU PF party inner circle would remain in place, echoing an announcement on Monday by a top Whitehouse official that Washington would not immediately increase aid to Harare’s power sharing administration.

The US cited the continued defiance by Mugabe’s ZANU PF hardliners on important issues including the appointments of the central bank governor and the attorney general.

The US is also worried by the arrests of journalists and human rights activists and the delay in swearing in of MDC deputy agriculture minister-designate Roy Bennett.

Tsvangirai, who has maintained that he has a workable relationship with Mugabe, said he would like to see the coalition government succeed until Zimbabweans decide who should lead them through a democratic election.

"If it was my wish, 10 to 20 years ago, President Mugabe would have retired from politics," he said. "We have entered into an agreement with President Mugabe; let's wait through until such time that the election process will be the only basis that the people of Zimbabwe will decide if he will have any role."

Responding to reports that allies of Mugabe had drawn up an assassination list of opponents, Tsvangirai said; "If there is anyone who would be afraid of being assassinated, it would be me. I am sure that there is no such threat." – ZimOnline