Zimbabwe’s mines minister barred from Britain

HARARE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe’s mines minister, who is on a list of officials close to President Robert Mugabe barred from the West, has been kept from attending an investment conference in London, state radio and British officials said Tuesday.

British officials in Harare said Obert Mpofu was denied a visa to travel to the African mining meeting where he was scheduled to make a speech Tuesday.

Mpofu is among politicians and leaders of Mugabe’s party targeted under travel restrictions imposed by Britain, the European Union and the United States. The travel restrictions, freezes on overseas bank accounts held by Mugabe cronies, and a study ban keeping their children from enrolling in foreign schools are meant to punish Mugabe for abusing human and democratic rights.

State radio said leaders of Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party accused Western governments of arrogance for barring party members from participating in a re-engagement campaign led by former opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who is prime minister in a coalition government formed in February and is and currently touring Western capitals.

In London, Tsvangirai was scheduled to address the International Mining in Africa conference from which Mpofu was barred. The conference is focusing on investment opportunities in Zimbabwe.

Tsvangirai’s party held a meeting of its national executive committee in Harare on Tuesday and announced it will seek help from regional leaders on continuing disputes in the fragile coalition government.

Tapiwa Mashakada, the party’s acting secretary general, cited bias in the state media against the party and Tsvangirai’s foreign trip, and more arrests and prosecutions of party activists and lawmakers.

He said the state media favored Mugabe’s ZANU-PF and undermined Tsvangirai’s efforts abroad.

“If this inclusive government is going to succeed, the media should project the spirit of the day, but it is attacking and belittling the prime minister in very toxic language,” Mashakada said.

The party was seeking an urgent meeting of the Southern African Development Community that could be held early next month to also mediate on “wanton political arrests” and prosecutions still pending against six of its lawmakers on charges that include allegations of political violence and election fraud surrounding polls last year.

But the Southern African Development Community officials, asked about Zimbabwe after a weekend summit on another trouble spot in the region — Madagascar — said they saw no reason to intervene at this point.

Tsvangirai has met Western leaders who have sharply criticized Mugabe. Tuesday’s radio report was not the first sign the Mugabe faction has been irritated by the attention Tsvangirai is receiving.

After Tsvangirai met President Barack Obama earlier this month in Washington, Obama praised the premier for persevering in trying to lead Zimbabwe out of a “very dark and difficult period,” and accused Mugabe of resisting democracy.

Zimbabwe’s state-run Herald newspaper quoted Tourism Minister Walter Mzembi, a Mugabe appointee, as accusing Obama of being “overtly biased” and lacking “diplomatic courtesy.”

The Sunday Mail, the Herald’s sister paper, later reported Zimbabwe’s information ministry was investigating whether a newsletter published by Tsvangirai’s office broke the law by reporting on the prime minister’s Western tour before he first discussed it with Cabinet colleagues.

Tsvangirai was expected back in Harare on Sunday.