Tsvangirai's "Secret" Trip To Ghana

Accra, Nov 15, GHP -- According to the Zim Observer, President John Kufuor met the Zimbabwe Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader, Morgan Tsvangirai in Accra last week, to update him on the political situation in his country.

There has been no local media report on this meeting.

The opposition party's delegation flew to Accra from Nigeria, where President Olusegun Obasanjo accorded them a red-carpet treatment.

Tsvangirai was leading a delegation, which included MDC vice president, Gibson Sibanda and the party's national chairman, Isaac Matongo.

The West African diplomatic offensive continues with a meeting with Senegalese president Abdoulaye Wade and ended in Ouagadougou, with a meeting with President Blaise Campaore of Burkina Faso.

Prsident Kufuor is viewed as a silent critic of President Mugabe, while speculation has been rife that relations between Obasanjo and the Zimbabwean President are lukewarm following Obasanjo?s support for the continuance of Zimbabwe?s suspension from the Commonwealth and Nigeria?s warm embrace of disgruntled former Zimbabwean white commercial farmers.

Unconfirmed reports said a government delegation, which wanted to "counter" the discussions at the Abuja meeting between Obasanjo and the MDC was denied visas.

"A senior government official who wanted to as usual, cause some commotion about the meeting was denied a Nigerian visa. He was told to apologise after the government media under his control falsely claimed the Nigerian government was funding the opposition," said an official close to the developments.

Zimbabwe and Nigeria had a fallout last year as the West Africans refused to support the re-admission of the southern African nation into the Commonwealth.