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Zimbabwe accuses UK of fuelling tension
Zimbabwe's government accused British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Tuesday of stoking political tensions ahead of its March 29 general election to try to force "regime change" in the southern African country.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:05 February 27, 2008
Pretoria: Zimbabwe's government accused British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Tuesday of stoking political tensions ahead of its March 29 general election to try to force "regime change" in the southern African country.
In a briefing in Pretoria, Zimbabwe's ambassador to South Africa presented what he said was a letter from Brown to Britain's Law Society in which he is said to promise to continue funding Zimbabwean groups working for "democratic change".
"Clearly such effort is meant to fuel tensions towards the March 29 plebiscite in Zimbabwe," Ambassador Simon Khaya Moyo told South Africa's Institute of Security Studies, an independent think-tank.
Law Society spokesman Steve Rudaini confirmed Brown had written to Andrew Holroyd, the group's president, concerning the situation in Zimbabwe. Rudaini said the letter was no longer available and had been previously published in error.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe frequently accuses Western powers, especially former colonial ruler Britain, of working with the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the main opposition party, and others to oust his government.
Moyo yesterday said Britain and the United States were trying to bring about "regime change" in Zimbabwe and warned that Zimbabweans would not tolerate interference in their internal affairs.
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