One is a female former teenage guerrilla fighter who became President Robert Mugabe’s closest ally, the other is a battle-hardened, male opposition leader often dismissed as a busted flush. But, despite their differences, Joice Mujuru and Morgan Tsvangirai are in talks to lead a united opposition alliance to try to unseat Mugabe in Zimbabwe’s much-anticipated election next year. The president, 93 and increasingly frail, has vowed to stand again to extend his rule, which began in 1980 and has been dominated by economic collapse and political repression. His Zanu-PF party has a stranglehold on government, the civil service and military, and has a record of election interference and voter intimidation that presents a formidable obstacle for any challenger. "For us, it is the more the merrier in this opposition alliance," Mujuru told AFP, speaking from her home on outskirts of Harare. "This is a coming-together in great numbers as a democratic force that should give confidence to our pe...
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