Zimbabwean agents harass dissidents raising funds
Independent (UK) Jun 28, 08 3:05 PM CDT
(Newser)
-
Robert Mugabe has agents in Britain harassing dissidents and disrupting opposition fundraising, the Independent reports. British security sources confirmed that Zimbabwean government supporters in England are terrorizing the nearly 4,000 supporters of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in the UK as Mugabe seeks to keep his grip on power. A key target of the covert operation is the money—up to $20,000 monthly—being chaneled to Tsvangirai's party.
More »
Calls election a 'sham,' orders sanctions; Rice vows UN resolution
Associated Press Jun 28, 08 1:00 PM CDT
(Newser)
-
Washington is seeking ways to punish Robert Mugabe for his violent "sham" of an election, President Bush said today. Bush has ordered Condoleezza Rice and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to work up sanctions against Zimbabwe, which ran a runoff ballot yesterday with Mugabe the sole candidate. Rice vowed to "press for strong action by the United Nations" against the African nation.
More »
Ink stain sought as protection against ruling party 'punishment'
Reuters Jun 28, 08 10:31 AM CDT
(Newser)
-
Robert Mugabe is wasting little time. Zimbabwe is expected to announce today that he will win in a landslide and be sworn in to a new term as early as tomorrow, Reuters reports. That would allow him to attend Monday's summit of African Union nations with the election wrapped up. Meanwhile, stories continue to surface about Mugabe's supporters forcing people to vote for him under threat of torture or death.
More »
Citizens choose bread line over ballot box in meaningless vote
Reuters Jun 27, 08 8:03 AM CDT
(Newser)
-
Polls are open in Zimbabwe's meaningless presidential runoff vote, with Robert Mugabe running uncontested. Reuters reports that turnout is low several hours into the vote—unlike March's elections, which saw voters wait for hours in snaking lines. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who dropped out earlier this week to prevent further bloodshed, told his supporters that they should abstain, or vote if they thought their lives were in danger.
More »
Sham election gets underway today
Guardian (UK) Jun 27, 08 3:45 AM CDT
(Newser)
-
As Zimbabwe's sham run-off election for president began to get underway, even opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai urged supporters to vote for Robert Mugabe to save themselves from the violent intimidation orchestrated by the government, the Guardian reports. Mugabe's militia has conducted a terror campaign of murder, abduction, imprisonment and rape to cow opposition supporters.
More »
International condemnation falls on deaf ears
New York Times Jun 26, 08 12:58 PM CDT
(Newser)
-
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s party maintains that tomorrow’s runoff election will go ahead as planned, despite international condemnation and the withdrawal of the opposition candidate, the New York Times reports. Former challenger Morgan Tsvangirai insists he wants negotiations between the two parties instead of polling. The president has implied that he will be open to negotiations after the vote, which the opposition will not accept.
More »
Former South African leader makes his first public comments on Zimbabwe
BBC Jun 25, 08 10:00 PM CDT
(Newser)
-
Nelson Mandela broke his silence today and denounced the "tragic failure of leadership" of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe. The influential former South African leader had previously held back so he wouldn't undermine the authority of mediator Thabo Mbeki, the BBC reports. "The world remains beset by so much human suffering," he said. "It is now in the hands of your generations to help rid the world of such suffering."
More »
'Abject disregard for the democratic process' in Zimbabwe leads to annulment of honor
Times (UK) Jun 25, 08 1:21 PM CDT
(Newser)
-
Queen Elizabeth II stripped Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe of his honorary knighthood today, calling the move “a mark of revulsion at the abuse of human rights and abject disregard for the democratic process in Zimbabwe over which President Mugabe has presided," the Times of London reports. A run-off presidential election is set for Friday amid international calls for postponement.
More »
Seeks 'transitional period;' willing to negotiate before vote
BBC Jun 25, 08 9:02 AM CDT
(Newser)
-
Morgan Tsvangirai is calling for a “negotiated political settlement” to begin a period of “healing” for Zimbabwe, the BBC reports. Speaking at his home after leaving the Dutch embassy, the opposition leader called Friday’s election a sham, and asked the African Union and Southern African Development Community to lead a UN-backed “transitional period.”
More »
Opinion
MDC leader explains refusal to contest Zimbabwe election
Guardian (UK) Jun 25, 08 5:58 AM CDT
(Newser)
-
ZImbabwe's opposition leader tells the Guardian that he dropped out of Friday's run-off election because he "can no longer allow Zimbabwe's people to suffer this torture." Morgan Tsvangirai explains that ending his campaign was "not a political decision" but an attempt to stop the violence inflicted by Robert Mugabe's thugs.
More »
OPINION
Use 2010 World Cup to pressure Mbeki: writer
New York Times Jun 24, 08 8:37 AM CDT
(Newser)
-
The last few weeks have further exposed Robert Mugabe as a tyrant—and Thabo Mbeki, South Africa's president, as a "vacillating, dithering, morally compromised figure," writes Peter Godwin. In an op-ed for the New York Times , the Zimbabwe-born author says that the West must force Mbeki to act by playing its trump card: threaten to take away the World Cup, which South Africa hosts in just two years.
More »
South African leader blasts Mugabe, wants election canceled
Mail & Guardian (South Africa) Jun 24, 08 6:39 AM CDT
(Newser)
-
Jacob Zuma, the leader of the African National Congress and the most powerful politician in South Africa, called today for the Zimbabwe election to be canceled, saying that the situation was "out of control" and that the UN must intervene. In the most forceful denunciation yet of Robert Mugabe by its powerful neighbor, Zuma told a conference that Mugabe's party had betrayed the African liberation movement, reports the Mail and Guardian .
More »