Harare - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is set to meet with the country's embattled war veterans next week, reports the state-owned Herald newspaper.
The former freedom fighters announced earlier this week that they were going to meet on Friday at the Harare city sport centre after an earlier meeting set for February 18 failed.
However, due to interest shown by Mugabe to have talks with the 1970s war veterans, the meeting has been rescheduled to next week, the report said.
The date and venue remained unclear.
The minister responsible for the welfare of the war veterans, Christopher Mutsvangwa, confirmed that the meeting had been rescheduled in order to make provisions for Mugabe to attend.
"This development ensues an audience that the honourable minister had with His Excellency the President this afternoon (Wednesday) wherein president expressed his desire to spend as much time as possible in frank talks and cordial interaction with his fellow war veterans during the planned meeting," Mutsvangwa was quoted as saying.
Earlier reports indicated that the former freedom fighters were brutally attacked by riot police a few weeks ago in the capital city.
The attacks were allegedly sparked by the factional wars within the ruling Zanu-PF party, as the war veterans were believed to be backing Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa to take over from President Robert Mugabe when he finally leaves office.
The former freedom fighters reportedly blamed their misfortune on Mugabe's wife Grace, who had previously lambasted them for allegedly supporting Mnangagwa.
Grace is reportedly backed by a group of young Turks known as the Generation 40 (G40), who are said to be gunning to get rid of Mnangagwa.
