Zimbabwean official charged with terrorism

HARARE, Zimbabwe, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- A newly nominated Zimbabwean official faces accusations of banditry, sabotage and terrorism, his attorney said.

CNN reported Sunday that Roy Bennett, the former Zimbabwean opposition activist who was to become a Cabinet minister, was charged and arrested Friday.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change nominated Bennett to be deputy minister of agriculture in a national unity government with President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party.

Under a power-sharing deal signed in September, the ruling ZANU-PF party gets 17 Cabinet posts and the MDC gets 13, CNN noted.

Bennett, the MDC party treasurer, was arrested while on his way to South Africa where he has been living for three years. CNN reported Bennett was arrested at the airport in Harare.

Bennett is to appear in the Mutare magistrate's court Monday, lawyer Trust Maanda said.