Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's party on Saturday pledged to trim the army and ensure a free society if it wins upcoming general elections. "The size of the army must be rationalised taking into account the fact that we are in peace and chances of us going to war are nil," Tendai Biti, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) secretary general, said at a conference in the capital Harare to unveil the party's post-election plan.

Zimbabwean journalists are no strangers to harassment, but as fresh presidential elections near, there is a gloomy sense the media is being thrust back into the firing line. It is an all too familiar sequence of events: A story is printed or broadcast that is damaging to 89-year-old President Robert Mugabe or his party, threats and denunciations follow from government and its media mouthpieces, then come the arrests. So it was last week for two journalists with the Zimbabwe Independent, who were charged with publishing "false statements prejudicial to the State."

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwean police arrested the editor of a private newspaper on Tuesday over a report that generals loyal to President Robert Mugabe had assured Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC they were not opposed to him winning elections this year. The army has publicly denied speaking to Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) officials and police have said that journalists who repeat the claims could fall foul of the southern African nation's tough media laws.

A youth leader from the Zimbabwean prime minister's party who is charged with insulting long-ruling President Robert Mugabe was rearrested on Monday after prosecutors revoked his bail, a lawyer said. Solomon Madzore, an activist from the Movement for Democratic Change is accused of calling Mugabe a limping donkey during an MDC rally in April. He was first arrested last Tuesday. "He had been granted $100 bail but prosecutors applied to have the bail revoked saying police still needed to complete investigations," lawyer Andrew Makoni told AFP.