Tsvangirai tightens pressure on Mugabe

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai sneaked out of the country at the weekend to lobby regional leaders in a mission to thwart President Mugabe's bid to stampede the country to an election without key reforms necessary for free and fair polls.

This followed a Constitutional Court ruling a fortnight ago ordering Mugabe to hold elections by July 31. Sources said the MDC-T leader was already looking beyond today's meeting of the principals with Zanu-PF leader Mugabe and DPM Arthur Mutambara.

They said Tsvangirai had gone to make preparatory groundwork ahead of a special Sadc summit on Zimbabwe that was initially scheduled for yesterday, but was postponed after Mugabe and Zanu-PF requested for more time.