Mugabe faces double challenge to presidency

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (CNN) -- -- Zimbabwe's main opposition group Wednesday said they will participate in presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for March.

But the Movement for Democratic Change ruled out running with Simba Makoni -- a former member of Robert Mugabe's government who has announced his own plans to run for president.

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai said Wednesday from Johannesburg: "We intend to (take part) with the full confidence of the support of the people of Zimbabwe."

Mugabe survived a hotly contested presidential challenge from Tsvangirai in 2002, amid widespread accusations of vote rigging.

Tsvangirai rejected any possibility of teaming up former Finance Minister Makoni, who recently announced his bid to unseat Mugabe and was promptly booted out of the ruling ZANU-PF party.

"Mr. Simba Makoni is just as guilty as part of the ZANU-PF elite which has destroyed our country," Tsvangirai said. "He as an individual may have some residue of respect, but they are guilty by omission and by commission over the last 30 years."

Makoni's campaign marks the first public challenge to Mugabe's grip on power from within his own party.

But many analysts say Makoni needs the support of other heavyweights within ZANU-PF who believe it is time for a change. It is unclear if he can get that support after being expelled from the party.

Mugabe, who turns 84 next week, has been Zimbabwe's only ruler since it achieved independence from Britain 28 years ago.

Under Mugabe's rule, once-prosperous Zimbabwe has suffered an economic crisis, with routine shortages of food, electricity and foreign currency.

The most recent estimate of the nation's inflation rate said it exceeds 24,000 percent, but economists say it is much higher.

While there is no official figure, unemployment among Zimbabweans is estimated at 80 percent.

Tsvangirai bid to unseat Mugabe in 2002 was marked by widespread allegations that Mugabe and his supporters rigged the vote. The United States and the European Union also raised concerns about fraudulent elections.

Last March, the government cracked down against the MDC, raiding the party's Harare headquarters, detaining and beating MDC members -- including Tsvangirai -- and preventing others from leaving the country.

Mugabe's government accuses the MDC of using brutal tactics to oppose the government.

Speaking Wednesday, Tsvangirai said he rejects the kind of widespread violence that followed Kenya's recent election, but fears such incidents are an "indictment of our democratic development in Africa." At least 1,000 people were killed in bloody ethnic battles after Kenya's December 27 vote, amid accusations of vote rigging.

"We don't want that in Zimbabwe and we will never endorse that kind of an outcome," he said. E-mail to a friend

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