Zimbabwe referendum 'due in March'

13 February 2013 Last updated at 17:35 GMT Elections in Zimbabwe in 2008 were marred by violence and allegations of vote-rigging Zimbabwe's key referendum on a new constitution has been "tentatively" set for 16 March, government minister Eric Matinenga has said.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said the referendum would herald a major step towards democratic reform, AFP news agency reports.

It would be followed by elections, expected to be contested by Mr Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe.

The date was announced as the election chief resigned, citing ill health.

The 88-year-old Mr Mugabe has been in power since independence in 1980.

Details of the new constitution, agreed by Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai, have not been officially released.

But it is believed that it sets a limit of two terms for future presidents.

'By hook or by crook'

Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai are expected to urge voters to approve the constitution, opening the way for elections to be held under the new rules.

The election would herald the end of the shaky coalition the two leaders formed after the disputed 2008 election, when Mr Tsvangirai - the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) - boycotted a run-off after claiming he had been robbed of victory during the first round.

Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party was also accused of unleashing violence against MDC supporters, an allegation it denied.

The two parties then formed a coalition government under pressure from regional leaders.

"I can confirm 16 March is the tentative referendum date," said Mr Matinenga, the constitutional affairs minister, an MDC member.

"I've indicated that maybe there's a need to rethink so that at least we have two days of voting for the referendum," he added, in a briefing to journalists in the capital, Harare.

Sources say the general elections are expected to be held between 15 and 30 July.

Mr Tsvangirai told AFP he would fight to ensure that "no-one is disenfranchised by hook or by crook" in the elections.

"If Mugabe's position that we need a free and fair election is a ruse, then he would have cheated me," he is quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, election commission chief Simpson Mutambanengwe, who was expected to organise the votes this year, has resigned, said Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa of Zanu-PF.

"The resignation is on the grounds of health," Zimbabwe's state-owned Herald newspaper quotes Mr Chinamasa as saying

MDC Secretary-General and Finance Minister Tendai Biti said his decision was regrettable.

"The judge is a man of good standing," he said.

A replacement for Mr Mutambanengwe, a retired judge who was appointed after the disputed 2008 poll, would be chosen after discussions involving the coalition partners, Mr Chinamasa said.

Zimbabwe's crash-strapped government has also repeatedly said it does not have enough money to hold the votes.

"We are looking for the money," Mr Tsvangirai told AFP.

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Blast hits Pakistan Shia march

22 November 2012 Last updated at 07:53 GMT The late-night blast in Rawalpindi hit a procession of Shia Muslims A Taliban suicide bomber killed at least 23 people at a Shia Muslim procession in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi, police say.

The bomber targeted marchers as they approached a mosque near the city centre. Another 62 people were hurt.

Blasts earlier on Wednesday outside a Shia mosque in the southern city of Karachi killed at least two people, and a bomb in Quetta left five dead.

The bombings come as Shias mark the holy month of Muharram.

First reports from Rawalpindi said 10 people had died in the attack late on Wednesday night, but officials raised the figure on Thursday morning.

Police rescue spokeswoman Deeba Shehnaz said several people who were critically wounded had died in hospital.

Police say they attempted to stop and search the bomber who then blew himself up. The force of the blast ripped a hole in the wall of the mosque.

"It was like the world was ending," one of the victims, Nasir Shah, was quoted as saying by Associated Press.

The Pakistani Taliban said they carried out the attacks in Rawalpindi and Karachi. Attacks on Shia by hardline Sunnis have increased in recent months in Pakistan.

BBC's Aleem Maqbool: "Karachi really has a sense, right now, of a city on high alert"

Karachi, where the mosque was apparently targeted, has a long history of sectarian tensions. A second blast there left at least seven people wounded, police official Javed Odho said.

Correspondents say the authorities are braced for more violence as Muharram reaches its climax this weekend.

The attack in Quetta did not have a sectarian motive. Police say the remote-controlled bomb exploded near a security vehicle escorting schoolchildren.

Three of those killed were soldiers. Two civilians also died. About 30 people were wounded, some of them critically.

"The target was an army vehicle which was escorting a school bus carrying children of local army officers from different schools," Quetta city police chief Hamid Shakeel told the AFP news agency.

Quetta is the capital of the south-western province of Balochistan, where a separatist insurgency is being waged by ethnic militants demanding more autonomy and a greater share of natural resources.

Pakistan's military also has troops in the province engaged in a long-running battle against militants in tribal areas near the Afghan border, including the Taliban and armed groups who support them.

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