Won't force Mugabe
to release election results; recount stands
BBC Apr 14, 08 8:39 AM CDT
(Newser)
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A Zimbabwean high court today rejected a petition to force President Robert Mugabe’s government to release its long-delayed election results, the BBC reports. Instead, the ruling party will be allowed to go through with its recounts, which the opposition believes are a ploy to rig the parliamentary election.
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African leaders urge quick release of election results
Reuters Apr 13, 08 1:28 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Zimbabwe's opposition leaders are crying foul today over a planned recount of last month's election results, Reuters reports. "They had custody of the ballot boxes for two weeks and they must have stuffed them with their votes," an opposition spokesman told BBC. Zimbabwe's election officials ordered the recounts today in 23 constituencies for all levels of government.
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As African conference begins, Mugabe ally plays down crisis
Reuters Apr 12, 08 5:11 PM CDT
(Newser)
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South Africa's president told African leaders today not to worry about Zimbabwe's disputed election, Reuters reports. "I wouldn't describe that as a crisis," President Thabo Mbeki said at a summit of 14 leaders in Zambia, assembled to free Zimbabwe from its political deadlock. "It's a normal electoral process in Zimbabwe." But Zambia's president urged them to act, saying they "can no longer continue to stand by and do nothing."
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Mugabe bans rallies, will skip summit on election results
Reuters Apr 11, 08 5:08 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Zimbabwe’s opposition party called a general strike today in response to news that Robert Mugabe will not attend a weekend summit intended to speed the release of last month’s election results, Reuters reports. Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change marshaled support for the strike, which "starts Tuesday." But police warned that all political rallies are outlawed "with immediate effect," BBC reports.
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Party says it won the election 'hands down'
Associated Press Apr 10, 08 11:44 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Zimbabwe’s opposition party today announced it would boycott a runoff of the presidential election, saying their candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, won the vote “hands down.” Official results from the election still have not been released, but President Robert Mugabe is thought to be pushing for a runoff vote, claiming Tsvangirai didn’t win by a large enough margin, the Guardian reports.
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President's supporters terrorize voters ahead of Zimbabwe runoff
Guardian (UK) Apr 10, 08 4:23 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Supporters of President Robert Mugabe have unleashed a wave of violence against opposition supporters ahead of a presumed second round of voting in Zimbabwe's presidential election. Armed men have driven from village to village and beaten voters in a chilling wave of intimidation designed to ensure another victory for Mugabe, the Guardian reports. Gun-wielding thugs warned patients at a hospital recently: "Next time you vote you must get it right or you will die."
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ANC chief may be leaning to Tsvangirai
in power play
Mail & Guardian (South Africa) Apr 8, 08 4:34 AM CDT
(Newser)
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The Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai traveled to South Africa yesterday to shore up international support for his claim that he has defeated Robert Mugabe in the presidential election. No details were released about Tsvangirai's meeting with Jacob Zuma, the African National Congress leader and assumed next president, but the Mail and Guardian reports that Zuma is less inclined to prop up Mugabe than the current president, Thabo Mbeki.
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Bearak arrested for violating pseudo-censorship laws
New York Times Apr 7, 08 12:47 PM CDT
(Newser)
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New York Times reporter Barry Bearak and a British journalist were freed on bail today by Zimbabwean authorities, who arrested them last week for covering the country's presidential elections without government approval. Bearak was released to a clinic; he was injured in jail when he fell 7 feet from his bunk to the concrete cell floor.
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Vow to fight off a second 'white invasion'
Times (UK) Apr 7, 08 4:41 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Militant supporters of President Robert Mugabe raided some of the last remaining white-owned farms in Zimbabwe last night as part of a campaign of intimidation to keep their leader in power, reports the Times of London. Television cameras filmed attackers forcing white landowners off their farms and looting their livestock and machinery.
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High court to rule on election results tomorrow
BBC Apr 6, 08 6:46 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Zimbabwe’s opposition leader today rejected a demand by President Robert Mugabe for a vote recount, the BBC reports. Morgan Tsvangirai, who has accused Mugabe of plotting a violence to maintain power, called a recount “illegal” and “impractical.” Meanwhile, a high court said it will rule tomorrow on whether election results must be released.
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In the 1960s, he begged London not
to deport his wife
Independent (UK) Apr 6, 08 3:40 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Robert Mugabe's hatred of the British may have stemmed from an affair of the heart, reports the Independent. Newly released letters from the 1960s show the future tyrant openly begged London not to deport his then-wife, Sally Mugabe, who had fled Rhodesia in the 1960s when he was jailed for anti-colonial activities. "It is certainly unfair for the British government to add to the misery of her already broken life," Mugabe wrote.
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Both sides claim
'memo' is part of dangerous power play
Los Angeles Times Apr 6, 08 7:00 AM CDT
(Newser)
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The Zimbabwe opposition denied responsibility yesterday for a "hit list" that is circulating in Harare, saying President Robert Mugabe created it to incite panic. The memo, which lists officials to be purged, cropped up as opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was assuring military and intelligence leaders that his transition into the presidential office would not include retribution.
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