Harare  - Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said Wednesday he had given President Robert Mugabe a deadline on the resolution of issues threatening to derail the country's unity government.

Tsvangirai was speaking ahead of a third meeting between the two leaders on Thursday over the unilateral claw-back by Mugabe of the telecommunications dossier from Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Harare  - The 19-country Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa), Africa's largest trading bloc, will finally launch its customs union at a long-awaited summit in Zimbabwe in June, COMESA said Friday.

The summit of heads of state and government, which was twice postponed last year, will be held on June 7 and 8 in Victoria Falls resort, Comesa secretary general Sindiso Ngwenya told journalists in Harare Friday.

"We shall have the launching of the Comesa customs union during the summit," he added.

Harare  - Twenty-nine people di

Harare - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai held talks Thursday on critical issues that threaten to derail their unity government, including Mugabe's snatch of the telecommunications portfolio from his rival's party.

Zimbabwe's deputy prime minister Arthur Mutambara, leader of a breakaway faction of Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), who is the third signatory to September's power-sharing agreement confirmed the meeting, which he is also attending.

Harare - A coalition of human rights groups in Zimbabwe has vowed on Wednesday to campaign against a new constitution, which is being drafted by the power-sharing government as part of the deal between President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

The group called the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), made up of churches, workers groups, students and other activists, said it was hopeful that it could win a referendum set for next year.

Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe - Pikai sometimes drops in at Clay's home round the corner for a bite to eat and a chat, and Pikai returns the favour by letting his neighbour collect water from his tap that seldom runs dry. The odd thing about this neighbourly sharing is that 10 months ago Pikai - not his real name - was among a mob of vigilantes of President Robert Mugabe's ZANU(PF) party flailing with sticks and heavy electric cables at Clay's back, because he was a supporter of the then opposition Movement for Democratic Change.