Ministers from Zimbabwe’s ex-opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) have boycotted a cabinet meeting chaired by President Robert Mugabe.

The meeting, usually held on a Tuesday, was brought forward as Mr Mugabe is off to Libya for an African Union summit.

When Mr Mugabe is away, MDC leader and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai chairs the cabinet gathering.

The MDC deputy leader said it showed “contempt” for the power-sharing unity government formed in February.

Mr Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party “has not welcomed MDC as an equal”, MDC Vice President Thokozani Khupe said.

She said the decision to move the meeting “reflects unilateralism, disrespect, contempt and refusal to recognise the reality and the letter of the global political agreement”, AFP news agency quotes her as saying.

Mr Tsvangirai arrived back in Zimbabwe on Monday morning after touring the West lobbying for aid for the poverty-stricken country.

This article is from the BBC News website.