Lusaka/Johannesburg - Over 14 African heads of state, including Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, were expected to attend the funeral in Zambia Wednesday of late president Levy Mwanawasa.

Mwanawasa, dubbed Mr Integrity for his anti-corruption crusade and his outspokenness on Mugabe's authoritarian rule, died in a Paris hospital two weeks ago at the age of 59 of the effects of a massive stroke. He would have turned 60 on Wednesday.

Harare - Aid agencies trying to distribute food to hungry Zimbabweans are still being stopped by state officials, despite the lifting of the Zimbabwe government's ban on aid agency operations, their representative body said Tuesday.

"We have a situation where military officials want letters authorizing us to resume operations," said Fambai Ngirande, spokesman for the National Association of Non-Governmental Organizations.

"It appears that the message of the lifting of the ban has not been communicated to all state structures, particularly the security structures."

Harare - Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) claimed Saturday that it had unearthed a "plot" by government lawyers and intelligence agents to secure convictions against its lawmakers in a bid to reverse its majority in parliament.

"Johannes Tomana, the deputy attorney-general is leading this plot," the party said in a statement, without giving details.

Tomana could not be reached for comment but deputy information minister Bright Matonga dismissed the claims.

Harare  - The Zimbabwe government finally yielded Friday to major pressure and announced it was lifting a three-month ban on the distribution of food aid in the hunger-stricken country, according to state radio.

A bulletin quoted a statement from the welfare ministry as saying that the government had "with immediate effect lifted the suspension of operations of private voluntary organizations and non-governmental organizations."

Johannesburg - Negotiators from Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF and Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) resumed talks on a power-sharing government in South Africa on Friday, a South African official confirmed.

Foreign affairs spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa told SAPA news agency the talks between Zanu-PF and the two MDCs - one led by Tsvangirai and another smaller faction led by Arthur Mutambara - had resumed more than two weeks after they reached deadlock.

Harare (Zimbabwe), Aug. 28 : Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and his rival Morgan Tsvangirai recently met for a dinner, even as Mugabe announced that he was effectively abandoning power-sharing talks.

The two men met at the five-star Rainbow Towers in Harare shortly after their historic handshake and shared what a close Tsvangirai aide described as an amicable meal. “They got on surprisingly well,” he told The Times.