LEAD: Mugabe, Tsvangirai call for end to Zimbabwe violence

Nov 11, 2011, 18:30 GMT

Harare - President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Friday appealed for their respective supporters to stop the political violence that has been plaguing Zimbabwe for more than a decade.

The power-sharing government between Mugabe and Tsvangirai has been struggling for 30 months to draw up a democratic constitution ahead of upcoming elections, expected to be held within the next two years.

Police forces largely aligned with Mugabe have prevented members of Tsvangirai's party and their supporters from holding election rallies, further raising tensions. Tsvangirai supporters have also been blamed for attacks against Mugabe loyalists.

'We have committed heart and soul that our country is without violence,' Mugabe said at a Harare hotel where the meeting was held. He said supporters of Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change should be able to 'hold their meetings freely.'

Appealing to police and his supporters, he said: 'Don't stand in the way of those entitled to hold their meetings.'

Last Sunday, pro-Mugabe youths armed with stones, catapults and sticks attacked supporters of Tsvangirai gathering for a rally just outside Harare.

'Let us differ with dignity. Violence is a collective national shame,' said Tsvangirai. 'I am happy the president is with us. I have brought before him the issues of violence,' he added.

Tsvangirai said pro-Mugabe police chief Augustine Chihuri should do more to stop the violence.

But diplomats, human rights organizations and local pundits see little hope of the violence receding.

'The cycle of political violence has not been broken and will only get worse,' the Zimbabwe Independent wrote on Friday.