Zimbabwean Cabinet sworn in amid disputes

HARARE, Zimbabwe, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- Zimbabwe's new power-sharing Cabinet was sworn in Friday but the ceremony was marred by the arrest of one minister and a dispute over others, observers said.

Roy Bennett, the Movement for Democratic Change's choice to become deputy agriculture minister, was detained near a Harare airport just before the ceremony, the BBC reported. He was a farmer who lost property under President Robert Mubage's land reform program and had been subjected to death threats, MDC officials said.

Several ministers of Mugabe's Zanu-PF party attended the ceremony to be sworn in, the broadcaster reported. An MDC official said the Zanu-PF officials were junior ministers, who were scheduled to be sworn in next week. The issue was resolved after closed-door negotiations.

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, as Zimbabwe's prime minister, and Mugabe agreed to a power-sharing system, ending months of bitter political deadlock after last year's elections and bloody aftermath. The MDC will control the finance and health portfolios, while Zanu-PF will lead defense, foreign affairs and agriculture.

The formation of the unity government is proceeding despite the MDC's concern about political prisoners, the British broadcaster said.

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said his country couldn't view Zimbabwe as an "ordinary country" until it makes a series of reforms despite Tsvangirai's participating in its leadership, The Times of London reported.

Brown said he spoke with Tsvangirai, telling him, "until the government of Zimbabwe could convince us that there were going to be free and fair elections and ... the removal of repressive legislation and clearly the release of political prisoners, until these things happened, we could not treat Zimbabwe as if it was an ordinary country."