Harare - Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's attendance at the lavish 85th birthday party of his rival, President Robert Mugabe, was in doubt Saturday, after a party official ruled out his presence at the controversial bash.

"He (Tsvangirai) will not be attending today's celebration as far as I know," Tsvangirai's Communication and Information Minister Nelson Chamisa told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

"I'm not sure where the media is getting the information to the contrary," he added.

During the week, Tsvangirai's spokesman had said he accepted an invitation to join the thousands of guests and schoolchildren at the authoritarian leader's party "in the spirit of national unity."

His decision had drawn criticism from many of his supporters, who consider the 250,000 dollars being spent to fete Mugabe, while millions of Zimbabweans go hungry, as being in bad taste.

Champagne, cognac, lobster, caviar, and duck have been reported to be on the menu of the annual jamboree, which is being organized by the Youth League of Mugabe's Zanu-PF party in the northern town of Chinhoyi a week after his birthday.

The organizers admitted that they had had difficulties raising funds for the party this year, given the dire straits in which most Zimbabweans find themselves.

Ten years of ruinous policies by Mugabe have wrecked the economy.

Zimbabwe's new power-sharing government has asked its southern Africa neighbours for 2 billion dollars to begin repairing the health, education, sanitation, water and other systems and to revitalize industry.

A regional summit has been called to decide on the request.

Western donors have been adopting a wait-and-see approach with regard to the two-week-old unity arrangement, which has been sorely tested by the state's refusal to release over 30 political prisoners, including several MDC members.

On Friday, the state agreed to release most of them - on the condition that they withdraw litigation against their captors for torture they suffered in custody, their lawyer said.

"It is a patently unlawful condition," Beatrice Mtetwa said. "It's the most shocking thing I've heard."

The offer excluded Roy Bennett, Tsvangirai's popular agriculture deputy minister-designate who was arrested on the day the new government was inaugurated and charged with possessing weapons for the purpose of insurgency. (dpa)