Gaborone  - Botswana's President Ian Khama said Monday he was open to debating his immunity from prosecution, which a disaffected faction of his own party is challenging in court, and warned Zimbabwe's new government was "skating on thin ice."

In an exclusive interview with the German Press Agency dpa three weeks before his first electoral test, Khama said: "It is, as a democracy, for me, a bit uncomfortable that you may find that the impression is given that the president can almost do anything and doesn't answer for it."

The high court in Botswana, which is held up as a model of democracy on the African continent, ruled earlier this month that the constitution gave the president "total" immunity, "both in his private and official capacities."

Khama commented, "I didn't make that constitution. I didn't make the laws. I inherited them, so whether they say the president should be above the law is something which I would welcome as a debate."

At the same time, a president should not spend his time fighting lawsuits, he said.

The High Court was ruling on a challenge by the suspended secretary-general of Khama's ruling Botswana Democratic Party, Gomolemo Motswaledi, to his suspension from the post by Khama.

Khama suspended him and barred him from standing for the party for a parliamentary seat in upcoming general elections because Motswaledi criticized a law firm Khama appointed to represent the party.

On Tuesday, Motswaledi's appeal against the High Court ruling will be heard in the Supreme Court of Appeal in the southern town of Lobatse.

Defending himself against charges of being autocratic, Khama accused "a few selfish people" within the party of putting their personal interests ahead of the party good and vowed a tough line against party dissidents and underperforming officials.

Even in a democracy, "there has to be order," the soft-spoken former Botswana Defence Force commander, son of Botswana's revered first first president Sir Seretse Khama, told dpa.

Khama was elevated from vice-president to president without a contest last year when former president Festus Mogae stepped down after two terms in office.

Many Batswana praise him for his firm hand and for his frequent kgotlas (consultative meetings with communities) while others accuse him of militarizing the government and of clamping down on civil liberties.

Outside Botswana, Khama is best known for his outspoken stance on human rights abuses in Zimbabwe under President Robert Mugabe at a time when Zimbabwe's other southern African neighbours refused to take Mugabe to task.

Khama caused a stir by boycotting a Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit in South Africa in protest over Mugabe's attendance.

He also opposed - and continues to oppose - the power-sharing governments that have been implemented in Kenya and Zimbabwe and is being mooted for Madagascar - as a panacea for disputed elections.

"You have a ruling party which may think it's going to lose an election, then they start dabbling in how the results go and then they are found out, the elections are then not credible and then they enter into a power-sharing agreement with the opposition," Khama said.

While Zimbabwe's seven-month coalition government, which is led by Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, was "going better than I expected," the foundations were shaky, he contended.

In the absence of any move by Zanu-PF leaders to stop party supporters invading white-owned farms and attacking former opposition members, "this agreement is, I'm afraid is still very fragile and is skating on thin ice and it could crack."

Apart from his stance on Zimbabwe, Khama's position on marriage also sets him apart in a continent where traditional values still hold sway.

Despite being paramount chief of the Bangwato people, Botswana's largest ethnic group, and as such, widely expected to assure his lineage, the 56-year-old leader is in no hurry to wed.

"I've been put under a lot of pressure on that particular score," Khama admitted.

His observations of marriage had taught him it could be a struggle but Khama didn't rule out tying the knot "if the right person comes along."

In a continent plagued by coups and conflict Botswana is often held up by the international community, donors and rights organizations as a model of stability and good governance.

Since independence from Britain in 1966 the world's biggest diamond producer has enjoyed 43 years of unbroken democracy and peaceful elections - all won by the BDP. Unlike many resource-rich African countries, Botswana has ploughed its gem revenue into creating a welfare state.

But the country has been hard hit by the global recession, which forced the closure of the diamonds mines for four months at the end of last year for lack of demand and obliged the government to seek a 1.5-billion-dollar loan from the African Development Bank to cover its budget deficit.

Khama said the government hopes reduce its reliance on diamonds by boosting exploration of other minerals, investing in tourism and agriculture and improving infrastructure to attract foreign direct investment in manufacturing.  dpa