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Opposition Faction's Harare HQ Calls Its London Branch Off Sides


More divisions have cropped up in Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change, this time between the Harare headquarters of the MDC faction headed by founder Morgan Tsvangirai and the faction's branch in the United Kingdom.

The faction's international affairs secretary, Eliphas Mukonoweshuro, reprimanded the U.K. branch after its leadership met with British government officials, ordering them not to engage in diplomatic activities or other business outside their jurisdiction. The U.K. branch says its officers were simply introducing themselves to the government.

U.K. branch secretary Julius Mutyambizi-Dewa said his organization takes orders only from faction chairman Isaac Matongo. U.K. branch chairman Ephraim Tapa added that the contact with the British government had been approved by Matongo.

Mukonoweshuro told reporter Jonga Kandemiiri of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that the MDC officials in Britain overstepped their authority in representing themselves as the faction's representatives to the British government. Tapa said his organization had followed a constitutionally correct procedure of informing the chairman of the party of its activities, and that it was up to the chairman to coordinate with other officials.

More reports from VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe...

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