An agreement banning cluster bombs has cheered human rights campaigners, but powerful military states are refusing to join it and experts say the treaty is riddled with holes and could prove unworkable. The agreement commits 111 countries to banning the use of cluster munitions.
Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe accepted that the opposition’s Morgan Tsvangirai won more votes in the presidential election and will contest a run-off in a political battle that has raised fears of bloodshed. Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) cried foul after Zimbabwe’s electoral body announced on Friday that he had won 47,9% of the vote
Zimbabwe’s opposition leader defeated President Robert Mugabe in the presidential election but faces a run-off vote after he failed to win an outright majority, the electoral body said on Friday. Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai won 47,9% of the vote on March 29 and Mugabe took 43,2%, said the chief elections officer.
Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said on Friday it would reject results of a presidential election that would force a run-off against veteran ruler Robert Mugabe. Official data showed the MDC’s Morgan Tsvangirai won 47,9% of the vote, beating Mugabe with 43,2%, but not enough to escape a second round contest with Mugabe.
The United States on Thursday urged Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to "call off his dogs" who are allegedly attacking opposition supporters and to release the presidential election results. State Department deputy spokesperson Tom Casey questioned how credible the results of the March 29 election could be when they have yet to be released.
Regional countries should mediate negotiations in Zimbabwe for a transitional government of national unity led by President Robert Mugabe to organise new elections, a pro-ruling party academic said on Wednesday. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change and Mugabe’s Zanu-PF are locked in an election stalemate.
Lawyers for an award-winning <i>New York Times</i> journalist and a Briton held in a Zimbabwe jail complained on Monday that they were being given the run-around as their clients spent a fifth day behind bars. Meanwhile, two South African satellite technicians were formally charged with defeating the ends of justice.
A leadership meeting of President Robert Mugabe’s ruling party will decide on Friday to contest a runoff election against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, a senior official said. Referring to a meeting of the Zanu-PF politburo, a senior party member told Reuters: ”I have no doubt the resolution will be in favour of a run-off, I have no doubt about that.
Rigging fears were increasing in Zimbabwe on Tuesday three days after the election commission failed to release results from the presidential vote, in which the opposition Movement for Democratic Change claims to have ousted authoritarian President Robert Mugabe.
Zimbabwe sat on a knife-edge on Tuesday as it awaited a new leader amid mounting pressure to swiftly release full results of an election already claimed by the opposition. For a second night running, security was stepped up in and around the capital, Harare, in readiness to quell any post-electoral unrest.
Zimbabwe’s opposition claimed a clear lead over President Robert Mugabe and his party as pressure mounted on Monday evening for the swift announcement of full results from presidential and parliamentary polls. Earlier on Monday, the United Kingdom-based Institute for War and Peace Reporting said that Mugabe was to announce victory.
No image available
/ 20 February 2008
The party of assassinated former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto began stitching together a coalition on Wednesday that could spell the end for President Pervez Musharraf, after winning the most seats in a general election. The United States welcomed the vote as ”a step toward the full restoration of democracy”.
No image available
/ 9 February 2008
Russia did not want a revived arms race with the United States, and has been forced to start a new weapons programme in response to Washington’s planned missile shield in Europe, a Kremlin spokesperson said on Saturday. ”Russia had no intention of getting into an arms race. It is just a necessary response,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.
No image available
/ 8 February 2008
The United States expressed ”serious concerns” on Thursday about the March 29 general elections in Zimbabwe, a country it finds under constant repression from President Robert Mugabe’s regime. Mugabe (83) who has ruled the former British colony since independence in 1980, is hoping to secure a sixth term in office.
No image available
/ 24 January 2008
The United States said on Thursday it has raised its concerns with Zimbabwe over a political opponent’s arrest which it called a bid to intimidate and muzzle democratic opposition. The US ambassador to Harare, James McGee, spoke on Wednesday to opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai after he was released after several hours in custody.
Police raids, arson and tribal attacks over the last 24 hours have claimed more than 100 lives in Kenya, police and officials said on Tuesday, bringing the toll for five days of post-election bloodshed to 299. ”At least 30 have burned to death inside a church in the Kiamba area,” a police commander said.
Pakistan parliamentary elections scheduled for January 8 will be held in February, a senior election commission said on Tuesday. ”Elections will not be delayed beyond February. We expect it to be towards the later part of next month,” the official said. The commission was to make a public announcement later in the day.
No image available
/ 19 October 2007
A suspected suicide bomber killed 133 people on Friday in an attack on former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto, as she was driven through Karachi to greet supporters on her return from eight years in exile. Bhutto was unhurt in one of the deadliest attacks in her country’s history.
No image available
/ 13 October 2007
The United States fears that attacks in Darfur and an impasse in implementation of a peace agreement in southern Sudan threaten peace efforts throughout the embattled North African country. The rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement accused the central government on Thursday of failing to abide by the peace agreement.
No image available
/ 8 September 2007
Fresh clashes have erupted between a renegade general and government troops in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The United Nations said violence in the region was hampering efforts to deliver food to tens of thousands of displaced
civilians.