New PM says Mugabe no longer main problem

Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said the world should no longer see President Robert Mugabe as the main problem in the country as a new unity government tries to rescue the ruined economy.

Speaking to Britain's Guardian newspaper before a unity cabinet was sworn in on Friday, Mugabe's old enemy Tsvangirai said it was time to move on to urgent issues, such as widespread poverty, high unemployment and crippling hyper-inflation.

"Unfortunately people are preoccupied with Mugabe as a person. They need to get over it. This has gone beyond Mugabe. People need to stop talking about him as the only issue," MDC leader Tsvangirai said in an interview on the Guardian website.

But a new political crisis could erupt soon in Zimbabwe and deepen the scepticism of Western countries whose confidence in the new administration is seen as essential for Zimbabwe's economic recovery.

The arrest of senior MDC official Roy Bennett before new ministers took oaths on Friday is likely to fan tensions between Mugabe and Tsvangirai after they ended months of deadlock over a power-sharing deal designed to rescue their ruined country.

Bennett, the MDC treasurer general, was charged with treason and is being held at a police station in the city of Mutare in the east of the country, the MDC said. He was due to become deputy agriculture minister in the new government.

Bennett had been living in exile in South Africa after fleeing the country about two years ago because police wanted to question him in connection with the discovery of an arms cache in eastern Zimbabwe.

Police officials have not been available for comment on Bennett's case.

Foreign investors and Western donors want concrete signs of stability in Zimbabwe. They have made it clear that funds will not flow to the once promising nation until a democratic government is created and economic reforms are made.

"People have set benchmarks. We have to earn the confidence of the international community. Their scepticism is justified. This is 29 years of one-man rule," Tsvangirai said.