Tsvangirai Denies Guardian Authorship

Update:  The Guardian has now posted Tsvangirai's denial of authorship but still hasn't explained what happened with the original op/ed.  Strange.

A friend and I were just discussing the situation in Zimbabwe and Morgan Tsvangirai's call for UN military intervention.  Our conclusions were similar to those of Chris Blattman in that we couldn't see how that would end (or begin) well.  I said I was somewhat surprised at Tsvangirai's tactics and now feel somewhat justified in that skepticism with the word via Sokwanele that Tsvangirai is denying authoring or approving of the op/ed piece (currently down/removed) that appeared in the Guardian.  Here's a bit from his statement:

An article that appeared in my name, published in the Guardian yesterday, does not reflect my position or opinions regarding solutions to the Zimbabwean crisis.

Although the Guardian was given assurances from credible sources that I had approved the article this was not the case.

By way of clarification I would like to state the following:

I am not advocating for military intervention in Zimbabwe by the United Nations or any other organization. The MDC is committed to finding an African solution to the crisis in Zimbabwe and appreciates the work of SADC in this regard. I am asking the African Union and SADC to lead an expanded initiative, supported by the United Nations, to manage the transitional process. We are proposing that the AU facilitation team, comprising eminent Africans, set up a transitional period which takes into account the will of the people of Zimbabwe.

There is a bit more information here, but it seems an unfortunate misstep at an incredibly tense moment in Zimbabwe.  Hopefully it was an honest one.