New Opposition Leader Emerges in Zimbabwe

A new opposition leader emerged in Zimbabwe yesterday when a former ally of Robert Mugabe said that he would challenge him for the presidency.

In a surprise announcement in Harare, Simba Makoni, 57, a former finance minister and member of the ruling Zanu-PF party's politburo, said that he would stand as an independent candidate in the elections due on March 29.

Mr. Makoni's decision marks a formal split in the ruling party. He blamed the president for Zimbabwe's "extreme hardships" and said: "I won't be in this campaign alone. There will be many of us, a great many of us. I am not an opposition party. I am not standing in the name of any party." Mr. Makoni, who studied chemistry at Leeds University in the 1970s and earned a doctorate from Leicester Polytechnic, is not expected to win. His candidacy could herald a new era in Zimbabwe politics.