Zimbabwe power-sharing plan offered

Zimbabwe’s opposition chief would accept the prime minister’s post and concede the presidency – and command of the military – to Robert Mugabe to settle a political crisis in his country, the Associated Press learned Saturday.

Morgan Tsvangirai outlined his proposal for resolving the contentious issue of who would lead any unity government in Zimbabwe in a speech Friday to regional Cabinet ministers gathered for the Southern African Development Community summit. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the speech on Saturday, the day the summit opened.

Tsvangirai’s proposal, which he said his Movement for Democratic Change presented during the deadlocked negotiations with Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party, would mean a major curbing of the powers Mugabe has wielded since the country gained independence in 1980.

But it also would leave Tsvangirai working closely with a leader he has reviled as a brutal dictator.

Elphas Mukonoweshuro, Tsvangirai’s foreign policy adviser, acknowledged in an interview Saturday there was “a possibility of abuse,” but said regional leaders who were expected to endorse a deal could keep a check on Mugabe.

The opposition may have little choice. Top military leaders have said publicly they would not recognize Tsvangirai’s authority.

“This whole process is about sharing power,” Mukonoweshuro said, adding, “Mr. Mugabe will be head of state and Mr. Tsvangirai will be head of government with executive power.”

KABUL, Afghanistan

More than 30 militants reported killed

U.S.-led coalition soldiers killed more than 30 militants during three days of fighting in southern Afghanistan, the coalition said Saturday.

A roadside bomb, meanwhile, killed a soldier serving under the separate NATO-led force, in eastern Afghanistan. NATO did not release any details, including the soldier’s nationality, but most soldiers in the east are American.

The U.S.-led coalition, which oversees U.S. special forces units and international police and army trainers, said militants attacked a coalition and Afghan patrol “numerous times” as the troops traveled through the Zamto Valley of Kandahar province Wednesday through Friday.

The U.S. and Afghan forces returned fire and called in airstrikes from fighter aircraft, the coalition said. No coalition or Afghan forces were reported wounded or killed in the fights.

More than 3,200 people – mostly militants – have been killed in insurgency-related violence this year, according to an Associated Press count based on figures from Western and Afghan officials.

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic

Re-elected president warns of downturn

President Leonel Fernandez promised to boost agricultural production and warned of dire economic times as he was sworn in for a third term on Saturday.

Fernandez said a shaky U.S. economy and rising fuel and food prices would bring his country economic hardship, and he asked a joint session of Congress to approve $210 million in loans for farmers to increase output and counter the downturn.

He boasted of more than 9 percent annual economic growth during his previous term, and noted unemployment has fallen to 14 percent from 20 percent during a 2004 economic crisis.

But “as this third term begins, a deteriorating global economy that has not been seen since the Great Depression is looming in the horizon,” he said.

Fernandez coasted to re-election in May after two nonconsecutive terms as president, bolstered by growth in tourism and foreign investment. Even as his government faces criticism for using tax dollars to finance big-ticket items like a $710 million capital city subway line, Fernandez on Saturday unveiled dozens of new projects, including dams, highways and a remodeling of the national library.

He also promised that a second metro line would be inaugurated early next year, although the first one has not yet opened. He did not say how much the projects would cost.

One in four Dominicans lives in poverty, despite the shopping malls and designer golf courses for tourists that are transforming the landscape of what once was a nation of sugar plantations.

SAN PEDRO, Paraguay

New leader meets poor, promises help

Paraguay’s new leftist president returned Saturday to the province where he spent 11 years as bishop, and pledged to raise living standards by eradicating poverty and corruption in one of South America’s poorest nations.

Accompanied by Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, President Fernando Lugo spoke to about 1,000 peasants gathered in a plaza in San Pedro, the biggest municipality in a neglected province where most eke out a living while rich soy farmers profit from high international commodity prices.

“This is where I learned to love the peasant, the indigenous people, and to admire their efforts to excel despite adverse conditions,” Lugo said after arriving in the town of 29,000, several hundred miles north of the capital of Asuncion.

Lugo’s inauguration a day earlier was historic for Paraguay – marking the end of a 61-year stranglehold on the presidency by the Colorado Party, which supported the brutal 1954-1989 dictatorship of Gen. Alfredo Stroessner.

Chavez told the crowd that oil-rich Venezuela will finance a fertilizer plant in San Pedro and send the country “all the oil Paraguay needs.” Venezuela’s state oil company said later that an accord signed by the two leaders guarantees Paraguay up to 23,500 barrels of oil and derivatives daily.

Paraguay’s daily consumption of oil products in July was 27,410 barrels of oil products daily, according to the U.S. Energy Department. The nation has no reserves and depends solely on imports for its petroleum needs, and the amount promised by Venezuela could be significant since it sent just 1,000 barrels daily to Paraguay last year.