President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai met Monday for the first time this year in what sources called a tense session.
The meeting closely followed President Mugabe’s reappointment of Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri over the objections of Prime Minister Tsvangirai and his formation of the Movement for Democratic Change.
The MDC considers Chihuri to be a loyalist of President Mugabe, and argues that that this has led the police to behave as an adjunct to Mr. Mugabe's ZANU-PF party.
Tsvangirai spokesman Luke Tamborinyoka said the two leaders discussed other issues including the state of the government, elections, related reforms and leaks of correspondence between the leaders to the pro-Mugabe state media.
Tamborinyoka said Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara - the third signatory to the 2008 Global Political Agreement for power sharing and thereby considered a principal - was absent but would attend a follow-up meeting Wednesday to revisit key issues.
Political analyst Charles Mangongera said he does not think that the meetings between the two principals will yield anything positive given their history and the environment.
