Sunday Mail (Harare) - February 5, 2006

CIA BEHIND MDC SAFARI TO ZAMBIA

Sunday Mail Reporters

SUSPENDED MDC leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai and his eight-member team were
deported from Zambia after they allegedly held a secret meeting with
officials from a US-funded organisation called Freedom House headed by
former CIA and FBI agents, it has emerged.

It has also emerged that the US embassy in Harare arranged the meeting, with
the American team raising suspicion that the meeting could have been
organised to plot ways of causing an upheaval in Zimbabwe.

Although details of the meeting are still sketchy, sources revealed
yesterday that the MDC leadership was in Zambia to hold discussions with
Freedom House, which claims to be a "voice for democracy and freedom around
the world".

The organisation is known worldwide for aiding civil unrest in countries
seen as a threat to the US policies and interests.

Said a highly placed MDC source: "I can confirm that the party delegation
was in Zambia to hold discussions with this organisation (Freedom House).

"They met with these guys and the US embassy in Harare was responsible for
organising the meeting and details on how the delegates were to proceed with
business in Zambia."

Contacted for comment yesterday, Mr Tsvangirais spokesperson, Mr William
Bango, who was part of the deported delegation, refused to disclose the
purpose of the meeting, saying:

"We dont have anything further to say about that trip to Zambia other than
what is in the public domain already."

Mr Tendai Biti, who is also in Mr Tsvangirais anti-Senate camp, said he
could not comment on the trip and the meeting "as I did not attend it".

Last Thursday Zambian authorities deported Mr Tsvangirai and his top
lieutenants for allegedly violating that countrys immigration laws.

Reports say the officials posed as tourists but later held the secret
meeting with officials from Freedom House in Livingstone.

Mr Isaac Matongo, Mr Nelson Chamisa, Ms Lucia Matibenga, Ms Gertrude
Mthombeni, Ms Paurina Mpariwa, Mr Bango, Ms Thokozile Khupe and Mr Eddie
Cross were the other deportees.

According to reports, Mr Tsvangirai flew into Victoria Falls ahead of his
colleagues on Tuesday and met a Samuel Mark Imende, who is believed to be
Kenyan.

After regrouping at Zambezi Sun International Hotel in Livingstone, the MDC
leaders held a marathon meeting with the Freedom House members, who were
initially believed to be MDC donors.

Sources said the officials from the US-funded organisation were initially
stationed in Kenya to mobilise sentiments against the Kenyan governments
bid to amend that countrys constitution.

The sources said Imende was present at the meeting in Zambia because he had
been working hand-in-hand with the organisation during its stint in Kenya.

Research shows that Freedom Houses board of trustees is mainly composed of
ex-FBI and CIA staff, former officials from recent American governments and
current American intelligence.

Some members in this board are on the payroll of the infamous Carlyle Group,
a multinational warfare company whose investors and beneficiaries include Mr
George Bush (senior), Mr John Major and many high-profile past American
government officials.

It is also understood that the leader of one of Zambias opposition parties,
Mr Anderson Mazoka of the United Party for National Development, facilitated
the secret meeting.

In 2002, when Zambia held its presidential elections, Mr Mazoka prematurely
claimed that he had won the elections, and before the final results were
announced the European Union sent him a congratulatory message. The
elections were eventually won by President Levy Mwanawasa.