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/ 16 October 2007
Zimbabwe’s main opposition on Monday accused President Robert Mugabe’s party of treating with disdain key talks by mounting a crackdown on its supporters. ”We continue to receive disturbing reports from across the country of violence against our supporters,” said Nelson Chamisa, the spokesperson for the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Prosecutors in Zimbabwe have withdrawn ”terror” charges against 22 opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) activists because of insufficient evidence, defence lawyers said on Tuesday. The activists were arrested in March as President Robert Mugabe’s government launched a crackdown on the opposition, which saw MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai severely beaten.
Zimbabwe’s opposition parties will pull out of South African-brokered talks with the government of President Robert Mugabe if violence against them is not halted. Zimbabweans are still being beaten and killed by Mugabe’s militias despite negotiations between his government and opposition parties, said a senior member of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Monday called for unity among the country’s main political rivals to revive the country’s moribund agricultural sector. ”Let’s work together, all of us,” Mugabe said at a ceremony in the capital, Harare, where he commissioned a range of farming equipment to be distributed to fledgling farmers.
President Robert Mugabe presides over a disaster in Zimbabwe but should still be entitled to attend a forthcoming Europe-Africa summit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday. Summing up talks in Pretoria with President Thabo Mbeki, Merkel said she made clear her disquiet about the situation across South Africa’s northern border.
A journalist and two actors were arrested in Zimbabwe during a satirical play making fun of the country’s political situation, press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières said on Tuesday. It said plainclothes police stormed a theatre in central Harare on Friday night during a performance of The Final Push.
Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade said on Monday he would travel to Zimbabwe this month to recommend multilateral mediation by African heads of state to try to solve the crisis in the Southern African country. ”Mbeki is a man of goodwill … [but] we should tackle the problem at the level of several heads of state, including Thabo Mbeki,” he said.
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/ 27 September 2007
Foreign-owned companies in Zimbabwe said on Thursday they were assessing the likely effects on their business of a new law forcing them to give local owners majority holdings. The Empowerment Bill, pushed through Parliament by the government on Wednesday, will give Zimbabweans a 51% stake in foreign firms, including the important mining and banking sectors.
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/ 26 September 2007
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown renewed on Wednesday a pledge to snub Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe at a European Union-Africa summit in December, but vowed to help his suffering people by reiterated London’s support for the ”reconstruction” of the economically ravaged former British colony.
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/ 23 September 2007
Zimbabwe’s divided opposition was pressured by international mediators into accepting the framework for next year’s elections in a move that will likely condemn it to defeat, according to analysts. The Movement for Democratic Change made a surprise U-turn last week and voted for the legislation.
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/ 23 September 2007
”Mugabe stands very tall and black,” boasted Herald columnist Nathaniel Manheru in Zimbabwe on Saturday. ”Brown stands white and colonial.” It was a reminder of the intensity of the diplomatic row that has erupted over British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s decision to boycott a Europe-Africa summit if Mugabe shows up.
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/ 21 September 2007
Zimbabwe’s information minister on Friday hit out at calls by the Archbishop of York to step up punitive measures against President Robert Mugabe’s government. Archbishop John Sentamu’s comments were misplaced and unfortunate, said Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu.
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/ 20 September 2007
Zimbabwe’s Parliament on Thursday passed a compromise Bill giving veteran President Robert Mugabe room to pick a successor after the measure was watered down to curb his powers to appoint legislators. The constitutional Bill will enable Parliament to choose a successor if an incumbent president fails to finish his term.
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/ 20 September 2007
The South African Cabinet has welcomed the recent breakthrough by the collective leadership of Zimbabwe on draft constitutional amendments. Zimbabwe’s main political parties have reportedly agreed that President Robert Mugabe should no longer be allowed to handpick members of the lower house of assembly.
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/ 19 September 2007
A day after Archbishop Desmond Tutu called on Britain to toughen its stance on Zimbabwe and press its neighbours, including South Africa, to intervene, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad said ”quiet diplomacy” was showing results. Speaking on Wednesday, Pahad hailed the constitutional changes agreed to by all the parties in Zimbabwe as a positive development.
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/ 18 September 2007
Zimbabwe’s main opposition party reached an agreement on Tuesday with the government on the adoption of a Bill that paves the way for joint presidential and legislative elections next year. In a surprise move announced in Parliament, senior members of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said they would not try to block legislation to amend the Constitution.
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/ 18 September 2007
Zimbabwe is ”closer than ever to complete collapse” under the weight of a deepening economic crisis that threatens to destabilise Southern Africa. The International Crisis Group (ICG) called on the Southern African Development Community group of nations to overcome internal divisions and focus on ways to persuade Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to step down.
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/ 17 September 2007
The humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe has become the world’s worst but is still largely ignored by the international community, a member of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said on Monday. David Coltart said the crisis in the former British colony had far outgrown the ability of any single nation to tackle.
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/ 16 September 2007
Zimbabwe’s main labour union will go ahead with a two-day strike next week despite government signals the wage freeze that triggered the protest would be relaxed, a top labour official said on Sunday. President Robert Mugabe’s government ordered a price freeze in June as part of ongoing efforts to stem rampant inflation, which is running above 7Â 600%.
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/ 16 September 2007
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is consolidating his hold on power as he ruthlessly tackles his arch-critics ahead of 2008 polls in which he is a candidate, analysts say. His latest victim is former Roman Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo, Pius Ncube, one of his strongest critics, who resigned this week from his post in the aftermath of an alleged adultery scandal.
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/ 11 September 2007
Zimbabwe’s main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) on Tuesday accused President Robert Mugabe’s government of bribing traditional chiefs by giving them brand-new vehicles ahead of elections due next year. Thirty-eight chiefs were given the open-backed vans on Monday at a ceremony in the capital.
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/ 6 September 2007
Zimbabwe’s police formally accused the country’s main opposition leader on Thursday of ”disorderly conduct” in connection with his recent tour of stores hurt by the government’s controversial price freeze, his lawyer said. Morgan Tsvangirai was quizzed by police for nearly an hour in the capital and then released from custody, one day after being instructed to appear.
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/ 6 September 2007
Zimbabwe’s failing economy and collapsing services have provided an environment ripe for graft, with the impoverished country’s woes facilitating an ever-worsening slide towards corruption. Despite setting up a local graft-busting body in 2004, Zimbabwe appears to be losing the battle against corruption, according to a leading watchdog.
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/ 6 September 2007
Zimbabwe’s police have summoned the main opposition leader for questioning on Thursday on his tour of shops to assess the impact of President Robert Mugabe’s controversial price freeze, his lawyer said on Wednesday. Zimbabweans have struggled to buy basic goods since Mugabe’s government ordered businesses to slash their prices to mid-June levels.
South Africa has denied it blamed Britain for Zimbabwe’s isolation in a report prepared for a regional summit earlier this month. The office of President Thabo Mbeki denied that the government produced a report on Zimbabwe critical of Britain before Mbeki briefed leaders of the Southern African Development Community on his mediation efforts in mid-August.
Despite persistent incredulous questioning by opposition parties, President Thabo Mbeki insisted on Thursday that the Zimbabwean government, the two factions of the Movement for Democratic Change and representatives of civil society are engaged in talks that will produce conditions for holding free and fair elections next March in an atmosphere of peace and tranquillity.
Zimbabwe’s state media on Wednesday called on the government to sever ties with Australia, accusing Prime Minister John Howard’s government of seeking to topple veteran President Robert Mugabe. ”There is no need to continue keeping up appearances when diplomatic ties between the two countries have irrevocably broken down,” the state-run Herald said.
At the beginning of March, Robert Mugabe’s regime launched a physical assault on the opposition. The unintended consequences have been sweeping.
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/ 7 September 2005
Roy Bennett, a member of the Zimbabwe opposition Movement for Democratic Change, was recently released from jail.
Former Zimbabwe information minister Jonathan Moyo says claims by the opposition MDC that the ruling Zanu-PF rigged the elections are credible.