HARARE, ZIMBABWE - Zimbabwe's prime minister says he will run in next year's national elections but is calling for peacekeepers to guard the election over fears that security forces will intimidate voters.

Morgan Tsvangirai also says peacekeepers are necessary to guarantee a free election. President Robert Mugabe hinted earlier this week that he too will run for re-election. The 86-year-old has led Zimbabwe since 1980. In recent years has been accused of holding onto power through violence and fraud.

HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Zimbabwe's prime minister says he will run in next year's national elections but is calling for peacekeepers to guard the election over fears that security forces will intimidate voters.

Morgan Tsvangirai also says peacekeepers are necessary to guarantee a free election. President Robert Mugabe hinted earlier this week that he too will run for re-election. The 86-year-old has led Zimbabwe since 1980. In recent years has been accused of holding onto power through violence and fraud.

March 5 (Bloomberg) -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, on her first trip to Central America since last June's coup in Honduras, announced the U.S. is restoring aid to the country and urged its neighbors to normalize ties following the election of a new president.

“Honduras has taken important and necessary steps that deserve the recognition and the normalization of relations,” Clinton said yesterday in Costa Rica, citing moves by President Porfirio Lobo to form a unity government and establish a truth commission to investigate abuses after President Manuel Zelaya was ousted and sent into exile by Honduras's military.

ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST - Ivory Coast's opposition says it will not join the newly formed unity government until an electoral commission is convened.

Opposition leader Alassane Ouattara said Wednesday that his party would not name ministers to the new government.

The country's prime minister on Tuesday announced a new government, nearly two weeks after the president dissolved the last one. But only 16 of the 27 ministers have been agreed upon. The remaining 11, which will include opposition ministers, are to be announced before the first Cabinet meeting on Thursday.

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast-Ivory Coast's opposition says it will not join the newly formed unity government until an electoral commission is convened.

Opposition leader Alassane Ouattara said Wednesday that his party would not name ministers to the new government.

The country's prime minister on Tuesday announced a new government, nearly two weeks after the president dissolved the last one. But only 16 of the 27 ministers have been agreed upon. The remaining 11, which will include opposition ministers, are to be announced before the first Cabinet meeting on Thursday.

Ivory Coast's Prime Minister Guillaume Soro announced a new unity government late Tuesday, nearly two weeks after the president unilaterally dissolved the last one, setting off deadly protests across the country.

The new government will be made up of 27 ministers drawn from both presidential and opposition parties, ending a standoff between the sides and offering hope of a stop to violence that has left at least seven people dead.

ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST - Ivory Coast's prime minister says he will announce within 24 hours the composition of the country's new government, which will include members of the opposition.

The announcement of the new government Wednesday could bring to an end a week of violent protests sparked by President Laurent Gbagbo's dissolution of the former government.

Prime Minister Guillaume Soro says that the opposition had agreed to join the new unity government after refusing for a week. Crisis talks were mediated by Burkina Faso's president, who flew in to try to broker a compromise.

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast-Two Ivory Coast opposition leaders say they will not join a new proposed governing coalition, deepening the crisis sparked by President Laurent Gbagbo's dissolution of the government earlier this month.

Two top opposition leaders refused late Sunday to join the government which is expected to be announced Monday. Mediator Blaise Compaore, Burkina Faso's president, is expected Monday in Abidjan to negotiate with leaders.

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Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga declared a dispute with President Mwai Kibaki’s Party of National Unity in what may be the “most damaging” incident since the rivals formed a government to end ethnic violence in 2008.

Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan should mediate an end to the impasse, which began after Kibaki rejected Odinga’s suspension of two ministers for alleged graft, Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi told reporters today in Nairobi, the capital. Mudavadi is a member of Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement.

kenya's fractious coalition government faced its biggest crisis monday since emerging from post-election violence two years ago, as its rival leaders clashed openly over a corruption probe. president mwai kibaki revoked the suspension of two

BEIRUT - Tens of thousands of flag-waving Lebanese gathered in Beirut's main square yesterday to mark the fifth anniversary of the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri, a killing that sparked a cascade of political turmoil in the Middle East.

Turnout from across the country was huge but estimated to be less than in previous years - perhaps a reflection of the serious rift within the ranks of the pro-Western ruling coalition, now headed by the slain Hariri's son, the current prime minister.

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's prime minister suspended two ministers over corruption allegations on Sunday after the president took the same action against eight officials in moves that will please donors but underline coalition divisions.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga said former ally Agriculture Minister William Ruto and Education Minister Sam Ongeri should step aside for three months to allow further investigations into scandals in subsidized maize and education programs.

The move throws into doubt the political reconciliation process in the divided country that had former rebels serving in top ministerial posts.

In the recorded message broadcast on national television, President Laurent Gbagbo said "the government is dissolved."

But he specified that former rebel leader Guillaume Soro who was prime minister of the unity government will stay on to help form a new government.

zimbabwe's rickety government of national unity commemorates its first anniversary thursday. on february 11 last year, morgan tsvangirai was sworn in as prime minister of zimbabwe after disputed elections and months of negotiations. he took

zimbabwe's unity government is plunged into another crisis as new regulations designed by president robert mugabe's loyalists demand that 51 percent of all companies be given to blacks. prime minister morgan tsvangirai says the regulations

The new regulations demand that all foreign and locally owned companies hand over at least 51 per cent ownership to black Zimbabweans.

Thousands of firms, including the Zimbabwean operations of giants such as Barclays Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and the mining company Rio Tinto, will be affected, and they must submit their plans to comply by March 1.

Owners who fail to comply could be jailed.

The new law plunged the unity government into deeper crisis. Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the former opposition Movement for Democratic Change turned prime minister in the coalition, told The Daily Telegraph the move had been made without his knowledge.

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - Zimbabwe's civil servants are on strike after the government refused to meet their salary demands.

The strike is another major challenge for the country's unity government, which was formed last year.

Tendai Chikowore, chairperson of the Public Service Association, said Friday that employees will not to return to work until the government agrees to pay a minimum salary of $630.

HILLSBOROUGH, Northern Ireland -- The prime ministers of Britain and Ireland unveiled a breakthrough agreement Friday that saves Northern Ireland's Catholic-Protestant unity government.

Both sides' negotiators gathered at Hillsborough Castle near Belfast to meet Gordon Brown of Britain and Brian Cowen of Ireland, who last week launched a personal mission to prevent the collapse of power-sharing, the central achievement of Northern Ireland's 1998 peace accord.

CONAKRY, Guinea-Guinea's new prime minister says a presidential election meant to bring civilian rule may not be held within six months.

A breakthrough agreement reached last month had called for a vote to take place within that timeframe.

But Jean-Marie Dore, a longtime opposition leader, told Guineans late Tuesday that it will take time to appoint competent ministers to a transitional unity government.

JOHANNESBURG-Regional powerhouse South Africa is urging Zimbabwean leaders to resolve political tensions in time for elections expected next year in the troubled country, a spokesman for President Jacob Zuma said Saturday.

In an interview, spokesman Vincent Magwenya said Zuma made that point to Zimbabwe's delegation at a mini-summit earlier in the week. It was a sign of growing impatience with the slow pace of reform since a coalition was formed nearly a year ago between President Robert Mugabe and his longtime rival Morgan Tsvangirai, who is prime minister in the unity government.