DEFENCE Minister Emerson Mnangagwa has warned that the army is ready to crush any Egypt-style uprising amid speculation that the former opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is planning nationwide demonstrations to push for political reforms.

The warning comes in the wake of state media reports that the main MDC faction led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is planning demonstrations to protest delays by President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF party in implementing political reforms agreed in a power-sharing agreement the two parties signed in 2008.

The MDC has denied the allegations, describing the reports of planned protests as “Zanu PF fiction”.

Mnangagwa vowed on Sunday that the army would not allow anti-government protests inspired by the mass revolutions that have occurred in Tunisia and Egypt during the past month.

“Those who may want to emulate what happened in Egypt and Tunisia will regret. Everybody is warned to keep peace in the country," Mnangagwa told army officers in comments broadcast by the ZBC.

A senior Zanu PF official, Mnangagwa is said to be one of the hard-liners allegedly blocking the consummation of the power-sharing pact until sanctions imposed by the West are removed.

The MDC-T claims the hard-liners have blocked security sector reforms and are behind the violence being unleashed on party supporters.

Thousands of Egyptians have taken to the streets during the past 14 days to push for the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak whom they accuse of repression and ruining the country’s economy during his 29-year reign.

Similar allegations have been levelled against Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980.