These issues include equal control of powerful ministries such as defence and home affairs, equal sharing of governorships and other top civil service posts, including ambassadorial positions, and the fraudulent doctoring of the document outlining the terms of the power sharing agreement.

The party also demanded that the constitutional amendment giving effect to the power-sharing deal be passed by Parliament before any new government can be appointed.

The Zimbabwe government has embarked on a campaign of disinformation with its mouthpiece The Herald claiming that a meeting of the MDC top leadership last Friday had decided to join the new government on Zanu (PF)'s terms.

"Neither Robert Mugabe nor Zanu (PF) has the legitimacy to form a government.

The SADC resolution does not bestow Mugabe with the right to form a government," said Thokozani Khupe, the party's vice-president, who chaired the meeting in the absence of Tsvangirai who was at an EU meeting in France.

The party leadership promised to wage a campaign of peaceful resistance against any new administration set up by the Mugabe.

"In the event that any illegitimate government is formed, the MDC will not be party to it. We will peacefully, constitutionally and democratically mobilise and campaign against the illegitimate government," said Khupe.

She also revealed that the party had uncovered a plot to murder its leaders. Without pointing a finger at anyone, Khupe simply said the national council notes with concern . . . the crafting of an assassination plot intended to eliminate the leadership of the MDC.

State-sponsored violence against MDC supporters has been on the increase again since the beginning of November. The party continues to receive reports from the around the country of harassment, beatings, arrests and abduction of its members. The leadership again expressed serious concern for the lives of 12 activists who have been missing for more than two weeks.

They were arrested during early morning raids at their homes in Banket more than two weeks ago and have not been heard from since, despite an urgent High Court order filed last week demanding they be brought to court. The police are increasingly defying court orders, secure in the knowledge that the judges will do nothing to enforce their own rulings. Despite hundreds of instances of defiance of court orders, no policeman or government official has ever been convicted of contempt of court.

Other opposition activists have said Zanu (PF) was returning to its default language of violence,' saying they were now being attacked randomly. MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said earlier this week the party was concerned that Zanu (PF) is trying to implicate us in some kind of larger strategic game plan.

The government has accused Botswana of training MDC activists for war, but Botswana has denied this. The Mugabe regime has, in the past, alleged that MDC militias were being trained on farms in South Africa. Several MDC members were arrested and put on a show trial, which eventually fizzled out for lack of evidence. The judge condemned the police for attempting to cook up evidence.