'New leader' for Zimbabwe's MDC

                 Gibson Sibanda has been Morgan Tsvangirai's deputy for many years

The man who has declared himself the new leader of Zimbabwe's divided main opposition party says he is confident that the party will bounce back.   Gibson Sibanda admits last year's split in the Movement for Democratic Change weakened the party.   But he told the BBC that all MDC supporters will back him after they know the facts. He says he has the support of 25 of the party's 41 MPs.   Correspondents say President Robert Mugabe has benefited from the split.   Founding MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai - who insists that he remains party leader - says the split was the work of government agents.   'Nothing special'   Mr Sibanda accused Mr Tsvangirai of repeatedly going against party decisions.   The National Council voted to take part in last year's senate elections despite Mr Tsvangirai's arguments that it would be a waste of time because the polls would be rigged.                Tsvangirai says the split was engineered by government agents

He then went ahead and announced a boycott , which was ignored by some MDC members, especially in the western Matabeleland region, home to Mr Sibanda.   Mr Sibanda was Mr Tsvangirai's deputy at the MDC for five years and also for several years before that at the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, which set up an opposition party to counter what is said was Mr Mugabe's disastrous economic policies.   But Mr Sibanda told the BBC's Network Africa that for him, Mr Tsvangirai was "just a Zimbabwean like any other person to me - nothing special."   Mr Sibanda has been briefing Harare-based diplomats about the changes.   The MDC is set to hold a congress in February, which should hold leadership elections.

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