Zimbabwean security agents arrested a leader of the opposition MDC today ahead of a swearing-in ceremony for a new unity cabinet in which he was due to take a post, a party official said.
The arrest did not stop the ceremony from going ahead.
But it could increase tensions between President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF and new Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC soon after they ended months of deadlock in negotiations and agreed to implement a power-sharing deal.
"Roy Bennett was arrested a few minutes ago at Charles Prince Airport. I am not sure whether he was arriving or leaving," Ian Makone, a senior MDC official told Reuters.
Mr Bennett, the MDC Treasurer General, was nominated as deputy minister of agriculture by Mr Tsvangirai.
Mr Bennett has been living in exile in South Africa after fleeing the country about two years ago because police wanted to question him in connection with the discovery of an arms cache in eastern Zimbabwe.
The MDC said Mr Bennett was taken to what it called a "notorious torture and interrogation base".
Troubles initially emerged at the swearing-in proceedings. MDC ministers refused to rehearse the oath-taking ceremony, saying Mr Mugabe had appointed two more ministers than his party had been allocated under a power-sharing agreement aimed at rescuing Zimbabwe from economic collapse.
But Mr Mugabe later began swearing in cabinet ministers.
Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai agreed last September to share power, but the deal stalled for months as they haggled over the allocation of cabinet posts, stirring doubts over whether the old foes can work together to bring in foreign aid and investment.
Reuters