The editor of an independent newspaper and a prominent human rights lawyer have been arrested, and Zimbabwe’s largest farm union said on Thursday that 40Â 000 farm workers have been displaced in post-election violence. Davison Maruziva, editor of the Standard newspaper, was taken by police from the newspaper’s offices on Thursday.
Police have banned political rallies and the opposition has accused the authorities of waging a violent crackdown as Zimbabwe’s political crisis deepens nearly two weeks after a presidential election that produced no official winner. Zimbabwe’s neighbours hope to find a resolution on Saturday at an emergency summit in Zambia.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who says he won Zimbabwe’s election, has met South Africa’s President Thabo Mbeki and pressed the key regional leader to use his influence to persuade President Robert Mugabe to step down, an opposition spokesperson said on Friday.
President Robert Mugabe on Sunday vowed that his main political rival would never rule Zimbabwe, as the opposition raised concerns that the governing party would rig the March 29 ballot. Meanwhile, opposition Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai drew the biggest crowd so far in the election campaign.
President Robert Mugabe, on the campaign trail ahead of March 29 elections, acknowledged acute shortfalls in local food production and said Zimbabweans were being sent to neighbouring countries to speed up the delivery of imported food, state radio reported on Thursday.
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/ 28 February 2008
Child rape has increased by 42% in Zimbabwe, the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) said on Wednesday, linking worsening child abuse and domestic violence to family tensions caused by the nation’s economic meltdown. Unicef launched a new ”Stand Up and Speak Out” campaign to fight what it called the ”staggering statistics on the unspeakable evils of child abuse”.
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/ 27 February 2008
Police in Zimbabwe are ready to use force to quell any violence during national elections next month and any unrest after the poll, the official media reported on Wednesday. President Robert Mugabe is accused of holding on to power by using intimidation and rigging to ensure previous election victories.
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/ 23 February 2008
As many as 10 000 people began gathering on Friday in a town in southern Zimbabwe for President Robert Mugabe’s 84th birthday celebrations, state radio reported. Organisers of Saturday’s ceremonies said they raised about Z-trillion for the bash — the equivalent of about R1,9-million at the dominant black-market exchange rate.
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/ 18 February 2008
Zimbabwe’s ruling party, shaken by internal divisions and a potentially strong election challenge to President Robert Mugabe, will expel candidates running against its official nominees in the March vote, the official media said on Monday. An independent observer group, meanwhile, has reported widespread vote-buying attempts.
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/ 31 January 2008
A court in Zimbabwe dismissed an appeal against the extradition of Simon Mann, a former British special forces officer accused of leading a coup plot to topple the government in the oil-rich West African nation of Equatorial Guinea, his lawyers said on Thursday. Mann’s lawyers had argued he would face torture and a likely death sentence if extradited Equatorial Guinea.