JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- Zimbabwe's national unity government, limping since its formation on Feb. 15, 2009, is now threatened with an ultimate collapse.
After a meeting of its leadership committe last Thursday, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's mainstream Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party announced that it was temporarily pulling out of the coalition with President Robert Mugabe's ZANU (PF) and the smaller MDC faction led by Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara.
The angry reaction was spurred by Wednesday's indictment of Roy Bennet, the party's treasurer. But the MDC said that some outstanding policy issues and a hardliner stance within Mugabe's party contributed to its decision, whose ultimate certification now hinges on the outcome of ongoing consultations with the party's supporters.