War veterans in Zimbabwe are planning to stage a ”million-man” march through the streets of the capital, Harare, in support of President Robert Mugabe, state radio said early on Sunday. Veterans of the 1970s war against white minority rule are among the 83-year old Mugabe’s most loyal supporters.
Climate change is already happening in South Africa, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday during a visit to a biodiversity centre in Cape Town. ”You can see that climate change is already a reality here,” said Merkel, as she visited Biota Africa, a centre where German and South African scientists conduct research on African climate change.
African diplomats presented a united front on Saturday to support Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s presence at an upcoming European Union-Africa summit despite strong European reservations. "The African Union wants all African countries to take part" in the summit in Lisbon in December, an official from the body’s headquarters in Addis Ababa said.
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.
The Zimbabwe government said it is pressing ahead with legislation to seize a controlling share of foreign-owned mining interests in the country, the official media reported on Friday. Police also said a total of 23 585 corporate executives, store managers, traders, street vendors and bus drivers were arrested for overcharging since a prize freeze was ordered.
Visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel was expected to urge South African President Thabo Mbeki in talks in Pretoria on Friday to increase pressure for a resolution to the crisis in neighbouring Zimbabwe. German sources said Merkel was determined to press Mbeki to do more to ensure an end to alleged human rights abuses in the country.
Condemning Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is counterproductive and international powers should instead put their weight behind regional diplomatic efforts to unseat him, Tanzania’s president said on Friday. Jakaya Kikwete insisted the diplomatic approach favoured by African leaders ”will pay dividends”.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, on her first visit to sub-Saharan Africa, called on Thursday for more democratic opening in Ethiopia, a key ally of the West now under scrutiny over rights issues. On the first leg of a five-day tour, the German leader urged Prime Minister Meles Zenawi to provide greater space in Ethiopia for both political opposition and the media.
Zimbabwean unions have called off a teachers’ strike after agreeing to a wage deal with President Robert Mugabe’s government, which faces growing pressure from labour amid a deepening economic crisis. Thousands of primary and high school teachers went on strike on Monday to press demands for pay increases.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has lost his campaign to prevent President Robert Mugabe from attending a Europe-Africa summit in Portugal in December despite the European Union (EU) travel ban on the Zimbabwean president. Brown is also facing stiff resistance to his demand that the EU appoint a special envoy to deal with the Zimbabwe crisis.
President Robert Mugabe renewed threats to seize foreign mining interests and businesses accused of profiteering, state radio reported on Tuesday. But the head of the central bank, Gideon Gono, warned against hasty and disruptive seizures in a country in economic crisis.
Chancellor Angela Merkel travels to Africa on Wednesday with the message that Germany is keen to step up cooperation with the continent to help combat poverty and disease. The chancellor’s trip to Ethiopia, South Africa and Liberia from October 3 to 7 will focus on economic development, social issues and business ties.
Zimbabwean teachers have gone on strike to press demands for huge wage increases as the Southern African country battles with the fastest rising consumer prices in the world. Critics say President Robert Mugabe has plunged the state deeper into economic crisis by ordering public institutions and private businesses to stop raising wages and prices without official authority.
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.
Zimbabwe’s central bank on Monday raised its main lending rate to 800% from 650% to tame ”angry and formidable” inflation, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono said. The central bank also will launch a new currency soon to try to curtail a thriving foreign-exchange black market, he announced in a bi-annual monetary policy speech.
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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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/ 27 September 2007
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe accused United States President George Bush of ”rank hypocrisy” on Wednesday for lecturing him on human rights, and likened the US Guantánamo Bay prison to a concentration camp. ”His hands drip with innocent blood of many nationalities,” Mugabe said in a typically fiery speech to the United Nations General Assembly.
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/ 27 September 2007
Mozambique will not attend the forthcoming European Union-African Union summit if Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is excluded, Radio Mozambique reported on Wednesday. Mugabe is barred from travelling to most European countries in terms of sanctions imposed on the Southern African country.
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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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/ 26 September 2007
Zimbabwe has ordered 120 000 tonnes of wheat from South Africa to ease food shortages, the country’s state security minister said on Wednesday. The Southern African country, once a regional bread basket, is experiencing acute shortages blamed on President Robert Mugabe’s policies.
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/ 26 September 2007
President Robert Mugabe’s attempts to control prices amid Zimbabwe’s worsening economic crisis have backfired and now even the black market faces shortages, a senior British diplomatic source said on Wednesday. Under Mugabe’s 27-year rule, Zimbabwe has plunged from prosperity to penury.
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/ 26 September 2007
The leaders of Zimbabwe and Iran are looking to form a ”coalition for peace” after receiving a tongue-lashing from United States President George Bush. ”The United States and its allies are so bloodthirsty they don’t want to see peace anywhere in the world,” said Zimbabwe Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga.
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/ 26 September 2007
South African Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu said on Tuesday he was ”devastated” by the human rights abuses of President Robert Mugabe’s government in Zimbabwe. Tutu said he struggles to understand how Mugabe changed so drastically after steering the country to independence in 1980.
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/ 24 September 2007
Southern African nations on Monday lined up behind Robert Mugabe in a row over whether the Zimbabwean President would be invited to a European Union-Africa summit in December, saying they would boycott the event if he was banned. The meeting in Lisbon would be the first in seven years.
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/ 24 September 2007
Former Mozambican president Joachim Chissano says Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe should attend the European Union-Africa summit to exchange views on issues in his country. ”I think it will be an opportunity for the EU to discuss with President Mugabe and exchange views,” Chissano was quoted as saying by the government mouthpiece Herald newspaper.
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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
Gordon Brown or Robert Mugabe? One won’t go to a summit between Europe and Africa in December, but the Portuguese hosts say the potential rewards of closer ties between the two continents outweigh the antagonism between the leaders of Britain and Zimbabwe.
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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
Britain will call on the European Union to extend sanctions against members of Zimbabwe’s ruling elite as the country’s humanitarian crisis plumbs new depths, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Thursday. He urged the international community to do everything it can to relieve human suffering in Zimbabwe.
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/ 20 September 2007
British Airways (BA) is to halt direct flights between Harare and London next month as the route is no longer profitable, an airline official said on Thursday. BA’s regional commercial manager, Steve Harrison, told the official New Ziana news agency that the last flight on the London Heathrow-Harare route will be on October 28.