Mugabe at Tsvangirai Funeral: 'Violence Must End'

Prez speaks at service for rival's wife
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 10, 2009 11:39 AM CDT
Mugabe at Tsvangirai Funeral: 'Violence Must End'
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, left, and his six children are seen during the service.   (AP Photo)

Speaking today at the funeral of his rival’s wife, President Robert Mugabe told supporters “that the issue of violence must end” in Zimbabwe, the BBC reports. He pleaded with mourners to “accept” Susan Tsvangirai’s death in a car crash. “It’s the hand of God,” Mugabe told Morgan Tsvangirai. “Rest assured we are with you, honorable prime minister.”

Some 20,000 attended an arena memorial in Susan Tsvangirai’s honor today, including most of the unity cabinet. She was killed Friday in a collision with an aid truck that also injured Morgan Tsvangirai. Given years of violence between the rival factions of Mugabe and Tsvangirai, speculation of foul play swirled about the crash, but Tsvangirai and Britain’s foreign ministry called it a likely accident. (More Zimbabwe stories.)

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