HARARE October 15 Sapa-AFP

Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai called off a cabinet
meeting Thursday after a magistrate's court detained top aide Roy
Bennett ahead of his trial on terrorism charges, officials said.

"The Prime Minister has suspended the council of ministers
meeting and any government appointments until the Bennett issue is
resolved," an official in the prime minister's office told AFP on
condition of anonymity.

Roy Bennett, Tsvangirai's pick as deputy agriculture minister,
was sent back to jail to stand trial Monday in a ruling his party
said was a serious attack on the credibility of the inclusive
government.

The Movement for Democratic Change party treasurer, accused of
possessing arms for the purposes of banditry, terrorism and
inciting acts of insurgency, had been free on bail since March. He
had been arrested on February 13, the day the unity government was
sworn in.

His renewed detention has cast fresh clouds on the challenges
facing the eight month partnership of Tsvangirai with long-time
rival President Robert Mugabe amid claims of a crackdown on MDC
supporters and disputes over key posts.

Minister of State in Tsvangirai's office Gorden Moyo told AFP
Thursday's cabinet meeting was cancelled as the prime minister had
to attend to matters linked to the unity pact but did not give
details.

"The council of ministers meeting which was supposed to be held
today has been cancelled because the chairman, who is also the PM,
had other pressing issues which relate to the global political
agreement which he had to personally attend to and address," he
said.

Bennett, a feisty white former coffee farmer whose land was
expropriated under Mugabe's land reforms, was arrested on his
return from South Africa to join Tsvangirai's government.

He had fled to the neighbouring country in 2006 after being
implicated in an alleged plot to kill the veteran leader, for which
he stands trial on Monday.

His lawyers said they are planning to appeal to the high court
to have him released on bail once again.

The MDC on Wednesday accusing Mugabe's ZANU-PF of being behind
Bennett's indictment and detention.

"ZANU-PF has invented yet another technicality to have him
detained without trial on trumped-up charges of banditry and
terrorism," the party said in a statement.

"The banditry charges are trumped-up and they poison the letter
and spirit of the inclusive government" and the unity deal, it
added.

The two former rivals formed the unity government in February
nearly a year after disputed polls plunged Zimbabwe into deeper
economic and political chaos.



Source : Sapa-AFP /po/gj
Date : 15 Oct 2009 13:51 OrigID : LP472740