President Robert Mugabe

Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Monday sought to quash speculation among his supporters and others that a car accident that injured him and killed his wife was an assassination attempt. "In this case I want to say there is no foul play. It was an accident that unfortunately took away her life," he said, addressing supporters outside his home in Harare, the capital. Many opponents of President Robert Mugabe have been killed in suspicious car crashes.

Zimbabwe's new prime minister was slightly injured and his wife killed Friday when their car collided with a truck on one of the nation's notoriously bad roads, officials with his party told reporters outside the Harare hospital where he was being treated. Morgan Tsvangirai, 56, was sworn in last month as prime minister of a unity government in the troubled southern African nation after years in opposition to the regime of President Robert Mugabe.

Prominent Zimbabwean rights activist Jestina Mukoko was granted bail after three months in detention, but she was unable to leave a hospital. Mukoko was taken from her home in early December and held in an undisclosed location until being jailed Dec. 23. She has been accused of plotting to overthrow President Robert Mugabe, charges widely dismissed as trumped up. Mukoko was admitted to the private Avenues Clinic three weeks ago after police repeatedly...

The headline in Zimbabwe's Herald newspaper Friday measured the disconnect between hopes and reality: Southern African nations were "to invest $US 2 Billion in Zim," it screamed. But after a meeting of regional finance ministers in Cape Town, South Africa, later in the day, Zimbabwe left with nothing but vague promises.

It was Day One for Zimbabwe's new government of national unity Friday, and already the paralysis had set in: The swearing-in ceremony that was supposed to usher in a new era of hope was delayed for hours by bitter squabbling. And in a sign that hard-liners in President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party remain bitterly opposed to the new prime minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, security forces arrested senior Tsvangirai ally Roy Bennett and charged him with treason.

An unsmiling President Robert Mugabe administered the oath of office for prime minister Wednesday to his bitter rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, in a power-sharing arrangement in which the president slightly loosens his three-decade monopoly on power. Although the Zimbabwean president is sharing control of the government for the first time, he retains authority over the country's all-powerful security forces. Tsvangirai, who led Zimbabwe's opposition to victory in parliamentary elections last year, called the deal "not a perfect agreement but still a workable one."

Facing severe pressure from southern African leaders, Zimbabwe's opposition voted Friday to join a unity government under President Robert Mugabe, despite failing to win its key demand for control of the police. The opposition will share control of the police with Mugabe's party, an arrangement that many in the opposition see as unworkable. Mugabe retains control of the military and intelligence services.