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 »
UPDATED
Results of uncontested race should be ignored, Britain insists
Times (UK) Jun 24, 08 4:30 AM CDT
(Newser)
-
The president of South Africa is is flying today to Zimbabwe to plead with strongman Robert Mugabe to save this week's presidential election after Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew to protest government violence. Britain’s foreign secretary said an uncontested race would be “the most rigged election in African history" and called on nations to refuse to recognize the results, reports the Times of London.
More »
UN Security Council condemns Zimbabwe violence, intimidation
New York Times Jun 23, 08 7:35 PM CDT
(Newser)
-
Zimbabwe's opposition leader remained holed up in the Dutch embassy in Harare today as police stormed his party's headquarters, the New York Times reports. Officers detained at least 40 people who were there—many of them women and children—the day after Morgan Tsvangirai dropped out of the upcoming election runoff, saying his country was facing a war, not an election: “and we will not be part of that war."
More »
US, EU push penalties; eyes are on response of African nations
Guardian (UK) Jun 23, 08 9:29 AM CDT
(Newser)
-
The UN Security Council today will address the struggle for power in Zimbabwe, one day after opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai dropped out of the presidential race because of violent intimidation, the Guardian reports. The US, Britain, and France hope to convince China and Russia to condemn Robert Mugabe's government. The EU, meanwhile, is pushing for penalties of its own, and African countries are considering how to proceed.
More »
Cites escalating violence and intimidation
Associated Press Jun 22, 08 8:45 AM CDT
(Newser)
-
The opposition leader in Zimbabwe's presidential runoff election has dropped out of the race, citing escalating violence and intimidation against his party by President Robert Mugabe's government. Morgan Tsvangirai announced his decision to pull out of Friday's runoff election at a news conference today in Zimbabwe's capital, after thousands of ruling party militants and soldiers in full riot gear blockaded the site of a rally there.
More »