Este año que se va me deja muchas satisfacciones, paso como un soplo de viento, no me di cuenta en que momento realice tantas cosas en estos doce meses.
Ingrese a la Universidad a estudiar Ciencias de la Comunicación, asistí a las Noches de Gloria (Casa de Dios) en San Salvador, El Salvador; participe en los congresos Ensancha y Hechos 29, leí mas de treinta libros en todo el año, entre otras cosas y lo mas importante crecí mucho espiritualmente.

Alrededor del mundo también sucedieron muchas cosas positivas y otras lamentablemente negativas. Podes decir que este año fue de crisis pero a la vez de bendición.

Los acontecimientos se dieron desde el primer día del mes de enero que se celebro cincuenta años de la Revolución Cubana.
Conmemoración de doscientos años del nacimiento de Edgar Allan Poe y Charles Darwin. Barack Obama recibe la presidencia de Estados Unidos, marca la historia de este país y el mundo. Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir designada primera ministra de Islandia.
Sigifredo Lopez es liberado por las FARC, convirtiéndose en el único sobreviviente del secuestro de doce diputados. Morgan Tsvangirai se convierte en Primer Ministro de Zimbabwe y su esposa lamentablemente muere en un accidente de carretera cuando el vehículo en que viajaba la pareja fue arremetido por un camión de USAID.
En Europa Oriental, Asia, Australa y Norteamérica en febrero se pudo observar un eclipse lunar.

En marzo, el papa Benedicto XVI realiza su primer viaje a África visitando, durante siete días, Camerún y Angola.

La gripe porcina obliga a suspender clases en todo México y la OMS la califica como pandemia inminente.
Dalia Grybauskaitė se convierte en la primera presidenta de Lituania,.

El jamaicano Usain Bolt bate el récord del mundo de los 100 metros lisos con una marca de 9,58 segundos durante el Campeonato Mundial en Berlín, Alemania.

Se celebra en La Habana, Cuba, la segunda edición del concierto Paz sin fronteras con la actuación de Juanes, Miguel Bosé, Olga Tañón, Silvio Rodríguez y otros cantantes y grupos, ante más de un millón de personas.

Otras noticias que dieron tristeza a nivel mundial fueron las personas conocidas internacionalmente que fallecieron como el Rey del Pop, Michael Jackson; Sidney Wood, tenista estadounidense; Beatrice Arthur, actriz estadounidense; Amparito Arozamena, actriz de cine, teatro y televisión mexicana; Patrick Swayze, actor estadounidense; Mercedes Sosa, cantante argentina y Brittany Murphy, actriz estadounidense; entre otros.

En el ambito de la literatura se celebra en Galicia (España) el Día de las Letras Gallegas en honor de Ramón Piñeiro.

La pantalla grande presento grandes películas, siendo las mas taquilleras: X-Men Origins: Wolverine; Terminador Salvation; Transformers; La venganza de los caídos; Ice Age 3; Harry Potter y el misterio del príncipe; This is It; 2012; Luna Nueva; Julie & Julia Christmas Carol y Avatar.
Los premios Oscar se llevaron a cabo en febrero, la mejor película del 2008 fue Slumdog Millionarie.

Los ganadores del Premio Nobel fueron: Artes, Norman Foster; Medicina: Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol Greider y Jack Szostak; Literatura: Herta Müller; y Paz: Barack Obama.

EL 2010….

Trae muchas cosas positivas a la vida, Dios se manifestara en gran manera tanto en mi vida como en la de miles de personas. Será un año de prosperidad.

Algunas Fechas Importantes:
• 19 de abril: bicentenario de Revolución del 19 de abril de 1810 en Venezuela.
• 25 de mayo: bicentenario de la Revolución de Mayo en la República Argentina.
• 20 de julio: bicentenario del Grito de Independencia de Colombia.
• 16 de septiembre: bicentenario de la Independencia de México.
• 18 de septiembre: bicentenario de la Primera Junta Nacional de Gobierno de Chile.
• 28 de octubre: quinto centenario del nacimiento de Francisco de Borja.
• 20 de noviembre: centenario de la Revolución mexicana.

Pero también internacionalmente habrá acontecimientos que moverán a todas las personas como el Mundial Sudáfrica, Juegos Olímpicos de Invierno Vancouver y IX Juegos Deportivos Centroamericanos, uno de los países sede será Guatemala.

En el cine se estrenaran películas, como Eclipse (saga Twilight), Harry Potter y las reliquias de la muerte (Primera Parte), y Las Crónicas de Narnia: Las travesías del viajero de alba.
¿Cual será la mejor película 2009?, ¿el mejor actor y actriz?, estas respuestas las sabremos en la entrega de los premios Oscar.

En el fútbol Copa Mundial de Clubes, Copa Libertadores de América, Liga de Campeones, UEFA Europa League y Recopa Sudamericana.

This is an article I wrote a year and a half ago about the election fallout in Zimbabwe. It was originally written for the the Financial Times Magazine in the late summer of 2008. They never ran the piece and I lost of track of it in the preceding months. I recently had a hard drive crash and rediscovered it in some old doc’s beavered away in a dusty folder. I first met Ambassador McGee in Madagascar when I was in Peace Corps there. I spoke to him via email for the article, which follows:

——-

“I knew I was moving to a country in a political crisis, but had no idea exactly how bad things were,” said James McGee, the current United States Ambassador to Zimbabwe. In March, Robert Mugabe, the country’s president and one-time liberator, was upset in the first round election by Morgan Tsvangirai, a candidate from the opposition party Movement for Democratic Change. It initially appeared that Tsvangirai had won a majority of the vote, negating a need for a second round of elections.

Official results from the election were not released until a month later when, following a secretive recount overseen by Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front. The final tally gave Tsvangirai 47.8% of the vote while Mugabe took 43.2%. In the follow-up election in June, Tsvangirai dropped out of the race after months of violence, assassination attempts, and a scourge of voter intimidation. Mugabe collected 85.5% percent of the vote to Tsvangirai’s 9.3%.

To orchestrate this unbelievable electoral turnaround, Mugabe and the ZANU-PF arranged a far-reaching campaign of violence and intimidation meant to break the spirit of Tsvangirai and his MDC supporters. According to McGee, more than two hundred people were killed and somewhere between thirty and fifty thousand Zimbabweans were displaced. After the first round of elections the ZANU-PF instituted a new program, internally referred to as Operation Vhoterapapi (“Whom Did You Vote For”), in which armed ZANU-PF supporters corralled MDC members for re-education. Support for Tsvangirai in the second round elections would be punishable by death.

Stories of rape, beatings, murder, and destruction of property appeared at regular intervals in the Western press. The day before the June 29 elections The New York Times ran a picture of a Zimbabwean baby with two broken arms on its front page, a casualty of the ZANU-PF-sanctioned violence. After several assassination attempts and failing to convince mediators that he had won the first round elections by an outright majority, something that would have eliminated the need for a run-off election, Tsvangirai officially withdrew himself from the race less than a week before the vote.

“More than 20,000 homes have been destroyed and over 10,000 people have been injured and maimed in this orgy of violence,” said Tsvangirai. “We believe an election that reflects the will of the people is impossible.”

With most Western journalists expelled from the country, getting accurate reports from the ongoing crisis was difficult. Many who tried to remain faced official detention, intimidation, or worse. Freelance cameraman Edward Chikomba was abducted and killed after allegedly supplying Western media outlets with footage of head injuries given to Tsvangirai during police detention just prior to the first round of elections.

In this time of uncertainty, filled with anecdotal reporting and few hard facts, McGee sensed an opportunity. A former pilot who earned the Distinguished Flying Cross three times during a six years of service in Vietnam, McGee became a career foreign service officer with tenures as Ambassador in Swaziland (2002-2004) and Madagascar (2004-2007).

McGee’s initial objectives when he arrived in Zimbabwe in October of 2007 were to help involve more citizens in the electoral process and to open a line of communication with opposition parties. “This worked well and we were able to surprise the ruling party with the turnout and level of personal commitment displayed in the March 29 elections,” said McGee.

Two weeks after the first round of elections the US Embassy began receiving reports of people being “brutalized by the government” for their support of the MDC. McGee arranged a visit to Avenues Clinic in Harare, a hospital being overrun with victims of beatings and torture. “We still have firm reports of people being hospitalized with broken limbs, people hospitalized with burns, and these are all people who have been abducted or forced to go to torture camps,” said McGee in a radio interview with SW Radio Africa.

Under McGee’s guidance, the US Embassy began assembling packets of information to document the systematic violence and the extent to which ZANU-PF was involved with it. “We have literally hundreds of reports, affidavits, pictures, people coming in and telling us their stories, us going to hospitals where victims are literally 99.9% MDC,” McGee told SW Radio Africa. Information was sent to the United Nations and the Southern African Development Community countries in an effort to raise international awareness and supplement that scattered media reports.

McGee arranged another trip to a reported torture site in the small town of Mvurwi, bringing along several staff members and fellow diplomats from Britain, Japan, the Netherlands, and Tanzania. They discovered a cache of torture journals, describing the names of detainees and torturers, the reasons for detention, and the methods of abuse. While attempting to leave, McGee and his entourage were surrounded by ZANU-PF soldiers who locked the gates of the compound and surrounded their vehicles to prevent them from moving. After a tense standoff McGee opened the gates himself while the ZANU-PF soldiers kept their guns trained on him. He waved his group through, daring the soldiers to shoot him.

The UN has been a vocal critic of Mugabe and the ZANU-PF. “The campaign of threat and intimidation we have seen in Zimbabwe goes against the very spirit of democracy,” said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. “Instead of openness, free competition and transparency, we have witnessed fear, hostility, and blatant attacks against Zimbabwean citizens.” The UN Security Council proposed additional sanctions be applied to Zimbabwe (the US has an on-going embargo dating back to 2001 intended as punishment for Zimbabwe’s involvement in the Second Congo War), but these were vetoed by China and Russia.

While the West has been vociferous in its criticism other African leaders have been have been reluctant to speak out against the ZANU-PF. “With a couple of notable exceptions, the African diplomatic corps has been missing in action in trying to do anything to assist the people of Zimbabwe,” said McGee. “In some cases, African diplomats have actively aided – mainly through manipulation of the media –- the efforts of the government of Zimbabwe to oppress their people.”

Chief among these figures is Thabo Mbeki, former President of South Africa who led the SADC envoy to advocate for peace. Mbeki initially played an important role in securing several key rights for opposition parties in the run-up to the March 29 elections, including the public posting of votes at polling places to help ensure fairness and transparency. Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga has been outspoken, calling for Mugabe to be suspended from the African Union until he allows a free and fair election.

Most other members of the AU have been unwilling to take critical positions against Mugabe. Zambia’s president, Omar Bongo said the Mugabe should be recognized as Zimbabwe’s new president after the second-round elections. Mbeki’s approach of “quiet” diplomacy urged for a power-sharing plan between the ZANU-PF and MDC, which would allow Mugabe to retain his position as president while Tsvangirai would become Prime Minister. Cabinet positions would be split between the two parties.

Talks of forming a coalition government have been continually stymied. The MDC proposed a split of authority, giving ZANU-PF control of the Defense Ministry while putting an MDC official in charge of the Home Affairs Ministry, which is responsible for the country’s police force. A deal appeared to have been completed in September, but the ZANU-PF has been unwilling to enact to any significant changes allowing the MDC into positions of authority.

They have instead tried to give the MDC charge of the Interior Ministry, which oversees the handling of waste disposal, while retaining control of the Finance Ministry, the army, and the police. An SADC summit was called in Swaziland in late October in part to help mediate the seeming impasse, but Tsvangirai was unable to attend because to the ZANU-PF refused to renew his passport making it impossible for him to leave the country. “If Mugabe wants an agreement he must do everything to respect the MDC,” Tsvangirai told the Zimbabwe Independent, a local newspaper. “If you cannot give me a passport, how will you entrust me with the keys of the government?”

As the impasse over a power-sharing deal continues, divisions in the MDC have surfaced. Some members are willing to compromise on the larger political stakes in order to begin addressing the urgent health woes and economic crises that have ravaged the country over the last several years. In a country once considered the “breadbasket” or Southern Africa, Zimbabwe has been ravaged over the last two decades.

Life expectancy in Zimbabwe has plummeted. In 1990 the average male lived until 60, today it is 36 for men and 34 for women. According to a 2008 survey by the US State Department, HIV/AIDS prevalence among Zimbabweans age 15-49 is over 15%. After a program to reoccupy huge swatches of farmland previously owned by whites, much of Zimbabwe’s economy has collapsed. Foreign investment in Zimbabwean industry and agriculture has dried up, ownership of farmland has been determined by party loyalty, and jobs have evaporated under the comparative inexperience of the new owners. A recent study by the Cato institute pegged inflation at an incomprehensible 516 quintillion percent. More than 80% of the country is unemployed. After a crippling drought, 2.5 million Zimbabweans rely on the World Food Program’s aid programs to survive.

The result has been a steady exodus of Zimbabweans fleeing into neighboring countries to seek political and economic refuge. “Four million Zimbabweans reportedly live in South Africa,” noted McGee. “Another 500,000 in Botswana, that’s twenty-five percent of the total population of that country.”

The arrival of Zimbabwean immigrants has provoked resentment in many neighboring countries. “We have already seen outbreaks of xenophobic violence in South Africa and the economic drag these refugees are causing in Botswana,” said McGee. “Direct foreign investment is nonexistent in Zimbabwe and investors are reluctant to look at surrounding countries with the problems Zimbabwe cause on their doorsteps.” Recently the German company that supplied the ZANU-PF with the paper to continue printing new money revoked their account due to a combination of political pressure and outstanding debt. No longer able to print new money, the government has resorted to repurposing old bills instead.

While resentment remains dangerously high between the ZANU-PF and MDC, some locals have risked their lives to cross political boundaries to help out their countrymen. “A major figure in the ZANU-PF has been, and continues to, work with the International humanitarian community to provide assistance for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPS),” said McGee. “During the violence and government intimidation between the two elections, he provided housing and food for over 200 people who had been displaced from their homes by government operatives. If his actions had been discovered by the ZANU-PF he would have been expelled from the party and his life could have been at risk.”

Reporting from Zimbabwe continues to be difficult and dangerous. The few remaining foreign reporters must travel in disguise and put their guides and translators at risk. The local press is largely beholden to the ZANU-PF. It is illegal to practice as a journalist without annual accreditation from Media and Information Commission. Practicing as a journalist without this accreditation is punishable by up to two years imprisonment. The country’s largest newspaper, The Herald, is largely sympathetic to the ZANU-PF and has called McGee an “Uncle Tom” and “a house negro.”

With so many difficulties surrounding the efforts to report on events continuing to unfold in Zimbabwe, McGee remains committed to using his position to document the country’s struggles.  “I will personally maintain a high profile, where necessary, to keep the international light on events in Zimbabwe,” said McGee.

“The world needs to express its outrage and not allow this regime to operate in darkness. Nothing would make it happier than to be ignored by the world.”

——

A year and a half later, the government is still haggling over a power sharing deal, but some foreign add has been allowed back into the country and the government has opened media channels with CNN and the BBC. Meanwhile unheard-of inflation, poverty, HIV infection, and starvation persist.

Here’s a Flickr stream with periodically updated images from the country, including documentation of the continuing violence, against dissidents and government workers alike.

ROY Bennett’s trial on terrorism charges has been adjourned to January next year after a key prosecution witness failed to attend court on Friday.

Roy Bennett, a senior official in Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party who was nominated deputy agriculture minister, was arrested in February on charges of illegal possession of weapons for terrorism, banditry and insurgency.

Bennett, a top ally of Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, denies the charges, which the MDC says are politically motivated to keep him out of the unity government formed with President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF party. The charges carry a death penalty upon conviction.

The MDC says Mugabe is frustrating efforts to swear in Bennett, along with other senior MDC officials, as required by a political agreement signed last year between the rival parties.

Arms dealer Peter Hitschmann, a state witness prosecutors allege was paid by Bennett to buy weapons to assassinate government officials, was not present to take to the stand on Friday, prompting the adjournment.

Hitschmann was acquitted of terrorism charges in 2006 but served jail time for possessing dangerous weapons — including six sub-machine guns and two machine guns — which have also been produced in Bennett’s trial.

Police say Hitschmann implicated Bennett in the procurement of the arms, but Bennett’s lawyers argue that the gun dealer had been tortured into making that submission.

“He (Hitschmann) did not come because we thought he would not (be required to) take to the witness stand. This is a situation we did not anticipate,” Zimbabwe’s attorney-general Johannes Tomana, leading the prosecution team, told the court.

Presiding judge, Chinembiri Bhunu, set January 12 as the date for the continuation of the trial. The High Court’s judicial year ended on Friday and the court resumes sitting on January 11. – Reuters

The Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, Morgan Tsvangirai talks to Irish broadcaster and journalist, Karen Coleman about the challenges he faces sharing power with Robert Mugabe the President of Zimbabwe.

www.telegraph.co.uk

By Andrew Porter, Political Editor
Published: 8:00PM GMT 24 Nov 2009

Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s president, pulled his country out of the organisation in 2003 and has been a fierce critic of Britain ever since. However, the new political coalition in Zimbabwe has helped pave the way for a possible early return.

Leaders of Commonwealth countries, including Gordon Brown, will gather for their biennial meeting in Trinidad on Friday. Discussions will take place that are expected to set a timetable for Zimbabwe to be re-admitted at the next summit in two years time. The re-admission will be linked to a series of reforms being implemented by Harare. Officials are looking closely at how the coalition parties, which include Mr

Mugabe’s Zanu PF and the Movement for Democratic Change, have gone about putting in place the reforms that include action on human rights, judicial reform and a constitutional overhaul.

Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the MDC, agreed to join a unity government with Mr Mugabe in January after months of political stalemate. Under the deal Mr Tsvangirai became prime minister while Mr Mugabe chaired cabinet meetings. The South African Development Community want to see progress on new reforms by 6 December. Britain led an attempt in 2002 to get Zimbabwe suspended from the Commonwealth after the full extent of Mr Mugabe’s brutal campaign against his political opponents became clear – more than 100 were killed. However, the diplomatic moves initially failed as foreign ministers from eight Commonwealth member states refused and instead chose to push for more sanctions and demands for “full and fair elections. “When those elections were roundly agreed not to have been fair, with violence and intimidation rife, Zimbabwe was suspended, initially for one year.  But pre-empting an extension of the suspension Mr Mugabe pulled Zimbabwe out of the Commonwealth in 2003. British officials ahead of Friday’s meeting said yesterday that they thought there was some progress on reforms in Harare, but they needed to be more solid before firm commitments of a return to the Commonwealth can be countenanced. The Queen will open Friday’s meeting in Trinidad and Zimbabwe will be discussed a day later. The timing has extra symbolism, as it is 30 years since a similar meeting in Lusaka opened the way for Rhodesia to become independent. A year later Zimbabwe was born. The two-year power-sharing agreement in Zimbabwe means there should be an election by February 2011 and a new constitution. So a Commonwealth return is possible after that.

However, with the constitutional talks deadlocked there is some uncertainty about the scale of progress that might be achieved by 2011. Nicolas Sarkozy, the French President, will address the Commonwealth gathering, becoming the first French leader to do so. He will take part in talks with the Prime Minister and other leaders on climate change.

Earlier this month it was announced that Mugabe’s Kimberley Process cronies have decided to give him until June to withdraw the soldiers in the Marange diamond fields. The army runs smuggling operations and use forced labour in mines whose profits benefit Zanu-PF.

Human Rights Watch exposed the horrors of Marange in June. A task team from the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme followed soon after and confirmed HRW’s findings. They recommended Zimbabwe be suspended from trading in diamonds.

But the horrors have continued. “As recently as late October 2009, [HRW] uncovered rampant abuses by the military in Marange including forced labour, child labour, killings, beatings, smuggling, and corruption,” says the rights body.

There is a clear case for Zimbabwe to be suspended. The gems from Marange are blood diamonds, extracted through the persecution and oppression of those living in the area. But no: Zimbabwe gets away with it. By letting them off the hook, “this diamond monitoring body has utterly lost credibility,” says Georgette Gagnon, HRW’s Africa director. She is absolutely right.

Having failed to do anything about the rights abuses and military occupation of Marange, over the past few months since abuses have been exposed, it is highly unlikely that Mugabe will implement the Kimberley Process’s recommendations by the agreed deadline. And with friends like South Africa, Namibia, Tanzania, DRC and Russia — why should he? Doubtless they’ll rush to his defence in June next year.

So the army will continue its plunder. The diamonds will continue to be smuggled. The people — women, children included — will continue to be oppressed and exploited. And the revenues will continue to fund senior Zanu-PF apparatchiks’ lavish lifestyles. All the while, the country continues its implosion: blackouts roll across the country; people starve; hospitals have no medicine; sewage trickles in the street.

Perhaps we should all boycott purchasing diamonds (of course in these dark times it’s not like there are vast hordes rushing to the jewellery shop anyway). But let’s boycott nonetheless. If there was a significant drop in sales, perhaps the diamond-producing countries that allowed Zimbabwe’s shame to continue, will develop scruples. It’s worth a try.

After all, there’s very little one can do, it seems, except jump up and down — and weep, and pray that sanity may prevail in Zimbabwe. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s re-engagement with Mugabe in the sham “unity” government is a great pity. It means his threats are empty. Mugabe can continue regardless. Do you really think Mugabe’s going to fall in line within thirty days like Tsvangirai’s demanded he do? And what then — another deadline?

The unity government has failed to stop Zanu-PF’s reign of terror: human rights continue to be violated with brutal impunity. And the country continues to fall apart. Tsvangirai is an appeaser. His dalliance with Zanu-PF makes me curious: is he stupid, naïve, or has he been bought by Mugabe’s machine? He reminds me of Neville Chamberlain, and the British prime minister’s desperate attempts to secure “peace in our time” in the months before World War II. Well, as that tragic history showed us, appeasement only led to immense suffering, cataclysmic violence and upheaval.

If Morgan Tsvangirai really cares about his country and the members of his party that continue being persecuted, he must act decisively and abandon the marriage he should never have agreed to. Mugabe needs his foe — and bedfellow — to maintain his legitimacy. If the latter walks away, the promise of aid, investment and all the other lifelines that would prop up the Zanu-PF regime will be pulled away.

I admit, it’s not easy for old Morgan. His job is difficult. And lonely. Shamefully, the SADC (which should stand for Southern African Dictators’ Club thanks to its tireless support for Mugabe’s tyranny) is not interested in true democracy taking root in Zimbabwe. Rather, the regional body craves a continuation of the postcolonial aristocracy in which despotic psychopaths can pillage and persecute freely because they are somehow entitled to. SADC’s logic appears to be that such ghastly behaviour is reward for having liberated their countries from the Europeans.

But the threat of regional alienation is no excuse for Tsvangirai to be co-opted by SADC. It is no excuse for him to become the useful idiot acting out SADC’s wilful contempt for the democratic will of the Zimbabwean people. Zimbabwe has suffered long enough. It is time Tsvangirai stops talking and starts acting.

PERSPECTIVE
The dust has finally settled and the curtain closed. The African National Congress (ANC)emerged victors of the 2009 presidential and parliamentary elections. Their landslide victory comfortably secures them an upper hand in driving the affairs of South Africa and its infant democracy.
However, the ANC still faces major challenges as it desperately fights to keep the legacy of one of the world’s most respected statesmen, Nelson Mandela. It is a legacy that rescued South Africa’s black population from the ruthless and cruel hands of apartheid. Yet, not even a fresh faced election victory masks the challenges still facing this government.
Zuma’s government has a huge task in gaining the confidence of an electorate which ushered them into power. His government still has a lot to achieve and prove, in order to convince its people at the grassroots especially those living in abject poverty,  that his cabinet are worth their vote and are committed to bringing positive change and alleviating poverty in their communities.
In the past decade South Africa has faced a serious political meltdown threatening the maturity of its infant democracy.
History remembers well the sacking of then deputy president Jacob Zuma by former president Thabo Mbeki. At a high profile press conference, Mbeki disclosed that allegations of corruption against Zuma were the motivation behind his decision to remove Zuma from office.
The decision by Thabo Mbeki to fire Jacob Zuma as his deputy president enraged the ANC, which would later force Mbeki to vacate his presidency. Mbeki was accused of being on a mission to block all avenues that would see Zuma the next president of South Africa.
With integrity and dignity, a sombre Mbeki obliged.
History also remembers vividly why in the past decade, South Africa’s political chores have been widely criticized and put under scrutiny by Africa and the rest of the world. Former president Thabo Mbeki’s quiet diplomacy towards the Zimbabwe crisis was a much talked about issue that contributed to both South Africa and Zimbabwe’s political woes. Mbeki’s approach in dealing with Zimbabwe’s political crisis was widely condemned and as such, was seen by political scholars as a serious weakness on Mbeki’s ability to resolve conflicts. Thabo Mbheki’s quiet diplomacy wreaked havoc on Zimbabwe and has negatively impacted on South Africa’s political image. In a desperate move to resolve Zimbabwe’s political problems, deep seated members in the ANC wanted an entirely different approach to the Zimbabwe crisis as opposed to Mbeki’s quiet diplomacy. Frustrated ANC members wanted Mbeki to openly condemn Robert Mugabe’s land reforms which has culminated in the mass murderers of white farmers and MDC cadres. The ANC also wanted Thabo Mbheki to condemn Mugabe’s habit of clinging to power. In the same breath, Africa and the rest of the world accused Mugabe of rigging that country’s elections, which would have seen Morgan Tsvangirai become Zimbabwe’s first democratically elected president, since Robert Mugabe’s regime.
Thabo Mbeki’s failure to resolve conflicts affecting SADC regions especially Zimbabwe’s crisis was seen by many especially the United States and European union as a major blow to Africa’s political and economic development. He failed miserably and his silent approach only contributed to that country’s tragic political and economic demise. Last month, Prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai boycotted Zimbabwe’s power sharing deal with Robert Mugabe but has since called off his boycott and has now demanded Robert Mugabe implement the agreements on the pertinent issues which that country is concerned about. To date, the political situation in Zimbabwe is still unripe with no talk bearing fruit.  Zimbabwe is yet to see positive results of a power sharing government.
Zimbabwe, a country once known as the bread basket of Africa has the highest inflation rates and now lies in the shadows of its former glory; isolated, plagued by starvation and violence, and currently sits on economic sanctions slapped on its government by international institutions.
The tragic events of  that country’s political and economic events have seen an influx of Zimbabwean refugees cross into South Africa in order to escape political unrest and starvation in their own country. Everyday,  some hundreds of Zimbabweans brave the storms to seek refuge in South Africa. Of these immigrants, a large 80% are illegal immigrants who resort to crimes ranging from white collar crimes to violent crimes in order to survive the streets of South Africa, especially Johannesburg. Whilst it is a fact that most of these crimes are partly committed by indigenous south Africans, illegal immigrants from all over Africa seeking a better life in South Africa yet end up finding themselves on the streets of South Africa are more likely to commit crimes on a regular basis in order to survive the harsh realities of life on the streets.
There has been a disturbing increase in crime in recent months with banks being targeted. Crimes committed regularly include rape,  senseless murders, house robberies, car thefts, car hijackings, with the introduction of ATM bombings in 2008 being the latest crime fashion.
South African police are been full on their hands and a record high of police lives have been lost in the line of duty in their quest to combat these crimes.
Add xenophobia attacks to the list and you know Zuma’s government faces major challenges in winning back the confidence of its electorate. In 2008, South Africa experienced one of the worst crimes committed by Africans against each other in xenophobic attacks. Hundreds of foreigners were viciously attacked a year ago by indigenous South Africans who accused foreign Africans especially Zimbabweans of taking what is left of their economy. Lack of government’s failure to deliver on its promises fuelled anger amongst South Africans living in squalor, hence the underlying motivation behind the xenophobia attacks. South Africans living in abject poverty have since taken to the streets to protest against government’s failure to deliver on its promises. In recent weeks, Xenophobia has reared its ugly head again in De Doorns in the western cape forcing some 2,400 African foreign immigrants to vacate their homes and failing to report for work.
Despair and pent up anger amongst indigenous South Africans living in deplorable conditions in shanty compounds has reached fever pitch as they helplessly watch their foreign counterparts rise up to economic challenges.
However, in spite of all these challenges, President Jacob Zuma insists that job creation, crime reduction and alleviating poverty is top of the agenda on his list, but people are increasingly getting frustrated and are taking to the streets in mass protests in an attempt to have their voices heard, and their patience is fast running out.
The United States and European union have urged Zuma to speed up change in Zimbabwe so that there is a change of leadership in that country. They have openly condemned Mugabe’s constitution and land reforms and continue to lash out at Mugabe for bringing that country to its tragic fall and subjecting his people to starvation and violence.
With corruption and a tendency of practicing half baked democracies being the norm in most African countries,  the United States and European union demand governments adhere to its mandate. It warns African governments and other undemocratic governments around the world to rid themselves of corruption and practice transparency in order to qualify for funding which could save their economies.

Hard pressing challenges are looming over the ANC’s shoulders and the world is now watching Zuma closely more than ever before with keen interest and anticipation, to see how his government rises to these challenges-By Sheria Mwangala, Freelance journalist,  Johannesburg South Africa.

At the start of the year the papers around the world were full of horror stories from Zimbabwe. A flick through them now would show nothing, leading a reasonable man to think all was well. Nothing could be further to the truth.

The fragile coalition between Mugabe and prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai has increasingly looked to be a means of allowing Mugabe to keep control with a veneer of credibility. In recent months old problems have resurfaced, and behind the scenes much of the suffering continues.

Tsvangirai, for a long time seen as the best hope for change, increasingly looks like a busted flush. On a visit to Britain earlier this year he was, to his bewilderment, heckled and accused of selling out by Zimbabwean dissidents. A brave man, there is a feeling he appears to have lost much of his fight, understandable since the death of his wife.

The Mugabe regime has resumed pumping out the same propaganda and his henchmen are back in the business of doing what they enjoy doing best. And there are again signs that the courts are being ignored and the police used as Zanu-PF weapons.

The world’s had a break. Zimbabwe is about to resume being headline news.

Le premier ministre de la république du  Zimbabwe, Morgan Tsvangirai à déclaré  à Maputo que son parti, le mouvement pour le changement démocratique ont retiré leur boycott du gouvernement d’union.

Le premier ministre Morgan Tsvangirai

Morgan  Tsvangirai a fait cette déclaration  suite à une réunion à Maputo de  la troïka de la communauté de développement de l’Afrique australe -SADC- et les parties zambiennes. D’après le premier ministre Tsvangira,  son parti donnerait un mois au président Robert Mugabe afin qu’il puisse mettre  en oeuvre l’accord de partage de pouvoir signé entre les principaux partis politiques zimbabwéens en septembre 2008.

“The Atlantic Monthly” just added to the history of useless lists with its new “Brave Thinkers” list, published in the latest issue of the magazine.

“Twenty-seven people with courageous ideas … that are shaping our future” reads the tagline for this brave innovation. The list is also subject of its own page on the magazine’s website.

Apparently a lot of work went into the production of the list. Yet the bulk of the entries reads like yesterday–Arthur Sulzberger Jr. (this is a guy who runs a family-owned newspaper that is struggling with the internet age), Ralph Nader (c’mon), and the creators of South Park (the series is a relic of the early 2000s)–or pop up on every other magazine list, which questions the point of the whole think.

Okay, so did any Africans make it, you want to know?

Yes, Morgan Tsvangirai, the Zimbabwean Prime Minister and Opposition leader: “He stood his ground against Robert Mugabe and is now bringing some normalcy back to the country.” [Yes, that image was used to illustrate the entry.]

I know, I like Tsvangirai, but what “normalcy” is there in Zimbabwe? Are they aware of the extrajudicial killings, attacks on opposition supporters and their prosecution on trumped-up charges continuing. This was also written before Tsvangirai–in frustration–withdrew last week from the unity government with Mugabe.

There’s one thing they don’t like about him, though: “Tsvangirai is no saint: he’s … made oblique threats of popular violence.“

The Atlantic likes its heroes to be non-violent always.

Link.

Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe’s prime minister and leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), has announced its decision to boycott the country’s unity cabinet. (photo, from aljazeera.net)

Although Robert Mugabe, the country’s president, has criticised the party of his estranges coalition partner, he said on Saturday that he remains committed to working with Tsvangirai’s MDC despite the boycott.

However the president called on the MDC to honour the power-sharing agreement it entered with Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party last year in a bid to end political violence.

Earlier this month, Tsvangirai announced the boycott, accusing Mugabe of refusing to fully implement the power-sharing agreement.

At the funeral of one of his party’s senate members, Mugabe said the MDC has “one leg in, and one leg out” of the government.

“The requirement is that we indeed continue step-by-step to move together and whatever are the difficulties, become our difficulties together,” he said.

“For one party … to decide ‘We shall not be fully in the process’ … then you begin to wonder whether you went into the agreement with persons who actually appreciated what going into an agreement means.”

‘Dishonest’

State media also reported on Saturday that Mugabe called the MDC leader “dishonest”.

“They can never be true and genuine partners and they have proved to be dishonest,” he said.

“We, however, want to assure you that we will not allow the situation to continue like that.”

In the same time as Mugabe’s comments, negotiators from the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) proposed an emergency summit to resolve the crisis.

Sadc is a 15-member bloc that has been involved in a search for a solution to Zimbabwe’s governance problems.

Over the past two days, ministers from Mozambique, Swaziland and Zambia, support staff from the Sadc secretariat and representatives of Thabo Mbeki, a Sadc mediator and former South African president, have been meeting Zimbabwean officials.

Even though it was not immediately clear how the negotiations progressed, analysts said there were slim chances of a breakthrough because the Zanu-PF and the MDC remain at loggerheads over some aspects of their power-sharing pact.

The MDC says Zanu-PF has blocked the swearing-in of some of its officials.

The power-sharing deal between Zanu-PF and MDC was signed in September last year, following a crisis after disputed elections and political violence.

Det tilspisser seg mellom Zimbabwes statsminister Morgan Tsvarangirai og diktator Robert Mugabe. Trolig er ikke en samlingsregjering løsningen for et land, fullstendig politisk og økonomisk skakkjørt, etter mange års vanstyre.

Regjeringssammenslåingen som ble iverksatt i fjor høst, har siden da sett ut til å bli vanskelig å gjennomføre. Hyppige arrestasjoner av medlemmer av opposisjonspartiet MDC, samt full splid om viktige posisjoner i regjeringen, utmatter det allerede slitne landet ytterligere.

Valgfusk
Robert Mugabe har ledet landet siden 1980, og innehatt presidentembetet siden 1987, da statsministerembetet ble nedlagt.  I fjor sommer tapte Mugabes parti Zanu-PF valget, til fordel opposisjonsleder Morgan Tsvangirais MDC. Valget ble fort ugyldiggjort, sett med vestlige øyne, da internasjonale observatører ble nektet inngang til landet. Mugabe, som da hadde regjert landet i 28 år, nølte med å offentliggjøre resultatet. MDC var imidlertid tidlig ute med å erklære at de hadde fått flertall i parlamentet – noe som etter en stund ble bekreftet av valgkommisjonen, men med under 50 prosent flertall.

Mugabe erklærte derfor en andre valgomgang, men store uroligheter i landet gjorde dette umulig, og Mugabe klamret seg til makta. Etter intense forhandlinger, klarte imidlertid de to partiene i fjor høst å enes om en regjeringssammenslåing.  Nå spørs det om denne noen gang vil bli gjennomførbar. Historien mellom Tsvangirai og Mugabe er lang, og hvordan skal egentlig to politiske ledere som ikke tåler trynet på hverandre kunne samarbeide?

Kontroversielle reformer
Zimbabwe het en gang Rhodesia, var britisk koloni, og sett på som et afrikansk foregangseksempel – et fremtidshåp. Landet var, og er fortsatt, rik på naturressurser, og var regnet som ”Afrikas kornåker”.  I år 2000 startet imidlertid Robert Mugabe sine jorbruksreformer.  Problemet var at knapt 4000 hvite farmere, eide så mye som 70 prosent av den beste dyrkbare jorden i landet. Og mange svarte mente at de var ”frarøvet” jorden, og at de i så måte også var de rettsmessige eierne.

Tusenvis av hvite farmere ble jaget vekk fra gårdene sine, og for de 600 som fortsatt oppholder seg i landet, pågår terroren fremdeles.

Stoppet bistanden
Reformene i år 2000 ble også starten på en stor økonomisk kollaps i Zimbabwe. Da landet i 2003 opplevde en hungersnød skyldte regjeringen på tørke, mens FNs Matvareprogram sa det var et sammenbrudd i landbrukssektoren. Bistanden inn til landet ble stoppet som konsekvens av den hårreisende politikken, og Zimbabwes diplomatiske forbindelser til vesten havnet på kjølepunktet.

Inflasjonen i landet er et kapittel for seg selv, og nådde i 2006 tusen prosent.

Tidligere denne måneden varslet Storbritannia at de øker bistanden til Zimbabwe til hundre millioner dollar i 2009. Mens vesten ellers vegrer seg for å gjenoppta bistanden, gir britene mer til de sørafrikanske landet, enn noensinne.

Må øke presset
Nå er det kanskje på tide å se etter andre løsninger, enn et samarbeid mellom Zanu-PF og MDC. Problemet er – og Mugabes fordel – at afrikanske ledere vegrer seg stort for å kritisere mannen, som i 1980 ble sett på som en frigjøringshelt i kjølvann av borgerkrigen. Mugabe dyrker fortsatt høy status blant politiske ledere i Afrika, og tabbekvoten ser også ut til å være umåtelig lang.

Samtidig vil neppe den 85-årige lederen gi seg, i den prekære situasjonen landet nå er i. Manglende pressefrihet, human nød og økonomisk kaos er fasit for dagens Zimbabwe.

Noen afrikanske ledere har imidlertid tatt til orde for å få fjernet Mugabe. Den sør-afrikanske erkebiskopen Desmond Tutu og den Kenyanske statsministeren Raila Odinga uttrykte i 2008 at militær makt kunne være løsningen. Sistnevnte oppfordret også Den afrikanske unionens ledere til å engasjere seg mer mot Mugabe.

Zimbabwe har en lang vei å gå, og samlingsregjeringen i Harare ser nå bare ut til å minimere det direkte internasjonale presset mot Mugabe, og skape ytterligere kaos. Zimbabwe trenger trolig et fullkomment regimeskifte for å komme på beina igjen.

poor tsvangirai.. he’s flying to SA to rope in some local support.. African politics is messy, yet funny.. [as it is everywhere else]

Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai left for a four-nation regional tour to consult with leaders on the crisis in the southern African country.

Tsvangirai will meet Mozambique president Armando Guebuza in Chimoio on Tuesday. Guebuza is the chairperson on SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security.

The MDC leader will also travel to Angola, DRC and will meet SA president Jacob Zuma.

I must admit that I’m particularly happy about the decision that Tsvangirai and his MDC took to withdraw from communication with president Robert Mugabe’s party.

I often hear people talk about the unity government as a marriage but I beg to differ. In a marriage there is a husband and wife, and if we were to agree that the unity government is a marriage, who would be the husband, head of the family and who, would be the wife.

I think Zimbabwe’s unity government is more to do with two bachelors agreeing to start a business together. Both Mugabe and Tsvangirai share executive power and so cannot be classified as being in a marriage whether of convenience or genuine.

Mugabe has filled himself with the notion that he is the husband, the bully in the construed marriage that is why he behaves like an angry papa.

Tsvangirai to an extent is behaving like jilted lover, or a wife being subjected to brutal domestic violence, and always running to NGOs (SADC) for protection.

I think Tsvangirai must stand up to Mugabe in his face and tell him once and for all, that he is destroying the nation.

Morgan Tsvangirai

Le premier ministre du Zimbabwe, Morgan Tsvangirai, a déclaré le désengagement de son parti du gouvernement de coalition. Le premier ministre Morgan Tsvangirai, dirigeant du Mouvement pour le changement démocratique – MDC – , a déclaré que son parti ne se retire pas du gouvernement d’union nationale, mais qu’il ne restera plus engagé au parti du président Robert Mugabe.

For more than 150 years, the Atlantic has told the stories of people who commit acts of moral and intellectual bravery by espousing unpopular or controversial positions. In a special issue of the magazine, the editors have chosen 27 leaders—from business and politics to science and media—who embody this great tradition today. These are people who are risking careers, reputations, and fortunes to advance ideas that upend an established order.

Illustration by Quickhoney

One of our favorite picks: Steve Jobs and John Lasseter, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Pixar Animation Studio.

Why they’re brave: “They haven’t let commercial success stifle their innovation or storytelling.”

Thorkil Sonne
CEO and Founder of Specialisterne

Ben Bernanke
Chairman of the Federal Reserve

Morgan Tsvangirai
Prime Minister of Zimbabwe

Camille Parmesan
Professor, University of Texas at Austin

Shai Agassi
Founder of Better Place

Steve Jobs and John Lasseter
Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer, Pixar Animation Studios

Montgomery McFate
Senior Social Scientist at the Human Terrain System

Freeman Dyson
Professor Emeritus, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton

Iftikhar Chaudhry
Chief Justice of Pakistan

John Fetterman
Mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania

Arthur Sulzberger Jr.
Publisher of the New York Times

Craig Watkins
Dallas District Attorney

Henry Greely
Director of the Stanford Center for Law and the Bio-Sciences

Walter E. Hussman Jr.
Publisher of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Ralph Nader
Perennial Third-Party Presidential Candidate

Sheila C. Bair
Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

Paul Polak
Founder of International Development Enterprises and D-Rev

Trey Parker and Matt Stone
South Park Creators

Barack Obama
President of the United States

Mark Zuckerberg
Founder and CEO of Facebook

Danny Day
Founder and President of Eprida

Jim Webb
Senator from Virginia

Jeff Zucker
President and CEO of NBC Universal

Meredith Whitney
Founder and CEO of Meredith Whitney Advisory Group LLC

Alex de Waal
Program Director at the Social Science Research Council

See Atlantic editors discussing the concept of the Brave Thinkers package, and watch videos featuring four of their most fascinating honorees.

FREED

Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) treasurer general and deputy agriculture minister designate Roy Bennett has been released after spending three nights in police custody.
Bennett was released late Friday night following an order by High Court judge Charles Hungwe earlier in the day.
“He has been released. The prison authorities verified the order after we served them before releasing him,” said Trust Maanda, Bennett’s lawyer.
Hungwe reinstated the US$ 5000 bail, and further ordered Bennett to surrender the title deeds of one of his houses and to report thrice a week at Harare’s Law and Order division between 6 am and 6 pm, conditions that Bennett was given in March when he was granted bail.
“I feel great. I didn’t know it would happen like this. It’s unbelievable,” said Bennett soon after his release.
Bennett said he would not take a break from politics but had been made stronger by the incarceration.
“All this persecution was meant to make me and the party (MDC) back down. But it has made us stronger,” he said.
Earlier in the day MDC leader and Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai told journalists that Bennett was not being “prosecuted but was being persecuted”.
Bennett’s arrest has made fissures in the coalition administration apparent with MDC cutting all communication with Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF.

A High Judge on Friday overruled President Robert Mugabe’s nephew’s attempt to keep in prison Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) top official Roy Bennett using a draconian section of the law usually invoked by the regime to keep behind bars opposition and human rights activists granted bail by the courts.

Justice Charles Hungwe issued a declaratory order for the release of Bennett on the same bail terms against Mugabe’s insistence of locking the MDC treasurer general until after seven days in which the state will decide to appeal against the bail order.

Michael Mugabe, a loyal law officer from the Attorney General’s office and nephew to the president invoked Section 121 of the Criminal Procedures and Evidence Act that allows the state to keep in prison any persons granted bail for a maximum of seven days in which the state shall file its appeal against the order.

Bennett, a white former farmer whose land was forcibly acquired under President Mugabe’s chaotic land redistributions, was appointed by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai as deputy agriculture minister.

Bennett was sent back to prison on Wednesday, a decision that heightened tempers within the fragile unity government.
Bennett, who was arrested on February 13, the day the unity government was sworn in, is charged with possessing arms for the purposes of banditry, terrorism and inciting acts of insurgency. Bennett denies the charges.

The imprisonment of Bennett was roundly condemned locally and internationally with the European Union leading the chorus of censure.

“The Presidency of the European Union is deeply concerned about the indictment and detention of Roy Bennett, nominated by MDC-T as Deputy Minister for Agriculture in the Inclusive Government of Zimbabwe. This action indicates a lack of commitment to the letter and spirit of the Global Political Agreement (GPA). The Presidency regrets that politically motivated abuse persists in the country. The decision taken yesterday, together with reports during the last few months of unsubstantiated legal measures taken against several MDC Members of Parliament, is cause for serious concern,” the EU said in statement.

“The Presidency calls for an end to politically motivated persecution in Zimbabwe. The EU stands ready to assist the Inclusive Government in implementing the much-needed reforms included in the GPA in the areas of democracy, respect for human rights and restoration of the rule of law. The parties to the GPA agreed last year to build a society free of violence, fear, intimidation and hatred. This commitment should be honoured without delay.”

The MDC said that Bennett’s imprisonment had further compromised the already shacky unity government.

The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has cut all contact with President Robert Mugabe, stopped attending cabinet and will not “sit with in meetings with an unreliable and repentant partner”.

MDC leader and Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai told journalists after a meeting of his party’s national executive that he will also not attend policy development Monday meetings with Mugabe.

The disengagement effectively means a constitutional crisis in Zimbabwe.

“However, it is our right to disengage from a dishonest and unreliable partner. In this regard, whilst being government, we shall forthwith disengage from Zanu PF and in particular from Cabinet and the Council of Ministers until such time as confidence and respect is restored amongst us,” Tsvangirai said.

Tsvangirai demanded a resolution of the outstanding issues that include the appointment of central bank governor, Gideon Gono and Attorney General Johannes Tomana.

“This will include the full resolution of all outstanding issues and the substantial implementation of the GPA. We are aware of the Constitutional implications of our decision, in light of the foundational element of the transitional government that executive power is shared between the President, the Prime Minister and Cabinet,” said Tsvangirai.

“However, it is a Constitutional crisis which should be resolved if Zanu PF and its leadership know that there is a price to pay for procrastination. Naturally should this Constitutional crisis escalate, then the self-evident solution would be the holding of a free and fair election to be conducted by SADC and the AU and under UN supervision,” he added.

Exactly 264 days since the extra-ordinary summit of SADC of 26 January 2009 that directed the formation of the transitional government, which government started work on the 13 February 2009, that administration has still not been fully consummated.

The MDC complained that provincial governors have not been appointed to date despite agreement on every item.

“More indecently is the fact that even the government itself has not fully been constituted due to the failure to swear in the deputy minister of Agriculture. Perhaps more embarrassingly is the fact that there has been no review of the GPA nor of the ministerial positions six months after 26 January 2009.

The party accused ZANU PF of “a complete lack of paradigm shift on the part of Zanu PF”.

“Instead, we have seen total abuse and disrespect of the GPA and in particular of the MDC. Ministerial mandates have been changed unilaterally, government internal rules have not been changed to recognize the new reality. Over and above this, some government agencies, in particular few components in the National Security forces still behave as if the old order exists. The National Security Council itself has met only once in nine months,” said Tsvangirai.

“We are also aware of the extensive militarization of the countryside through massive deployment of the military and the setting up of bases of violence that we saw after the 29th of March 2008. Over and above this, we are aware of over 16 000 of Zanu PF youth functionaries who have been imposed on the government payroll,” he said.

The party also complained about “continuous selective and unequal application of the rule of law”. Tsvangirai said seven of his MDC MPs have been persecuted and convicted on shadowy charges whilst several others are on remand.

“The public media, in particular The Herald and the ZBC continue to treat the MDC and our leaders in government as if they were a third-rate treasonous and sell-out element instead of a genuine and equal partner in the transitional government.

The slow rate of movement and execution of positions agreed in the GPA is also as worrying as it is unacceptable. Indeed, the lack of real movement on the key issues of democratization of the media, the Constitutional reform process, the land audit and the rule of law issues in the GPA are issues that stick out like a sore thumb,” Tsvangirai said.

He said if the constitutional crisis persists UN supervised elections should be conducted.

Zimbabwe’s seven month old coalition faces collapse as serious fissures stalked by the re-arrest of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s top aide, Roy Bennett.

Reacting to the developments, Tsvangirai cancelled a Council of Ministers meeting in protest over president Robert Mugabe’s refusal to meet him to resolve the matter.

Tsvangirai made several attempts to meet Mugabe, Justice and Legal Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa and Attorney General Johannes Tomana, attempts which were all turned down.

The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Tsvangirai’s spokesperson James Maridadi confirmed that a Council of Ministers meeting, which Tsvangirai chairs and sits on Thursdays had been suspended because “the Prime Minister (Tsvangirai) will be meeting the top MDC  leadership to consider Senator Roy Bennett’s issue”.

“Council of ministers has been cancelled. The Prime Minister has suspended his coming to the office until the issue of Senator Bennett is resolved. He wants that matter resolved immediately,” said Maridadi.

He said Tsvangirai’s attempts to meet Mugabe were frustrated last night.

The MDC Treasurer-General and deputy agriculture minister designate Bennett was sent to prison for the second time, this year on the same charges after the state successfully applied to indict him in the High Court.

The MDC party said Bennett’s indictment and subsequent detention as “yet another serious attack on the credibility of the inclusive government”.

“The MDC views this as an act of machination by Zanu PF and its sulking cabal planted in various state institutions aimed at persecuting not prosecution. As a party, we know that Bennett is innocent. The banditry charges are trumped-up and they poison the letter and spirit of the inclusive government and the Global Political Agreement,” the MDC said in a statement.

“This latest action is deliberately provocative, unnecessary and motivated by hatred of a personality. The MDC takes this matter as a serious attack on the integrity and honesty of the party; it is not acceptable and will not be taken lightly,” party said.

Le  tribunal de Mutare de la république du Zimbabwe  a ordonné  le renvoi en prison de Roy Bennett, vice-ministre désigné au sein du gouvernement d’union et proche du premier ministre Morgan Tsvangirai, sous l’accusation de terrorisme et sabotage.

 Roy Bennett

Cet ancien fermier blanc de 52 ans est le trésorier du mouvement pour le changement démocratique – MDC -, l’ancien parti d’opposition de l’actuel premier ministre Morgan Tsvangirai. C’est le 13 février 2009 qu’il avait fait l’objet d’une arrestation, jour de la prestation de serment du gouvernement d’union formé par Tsvangirai et le président Robert Mugabe, dont il devait faire partie en tant que vice-ministre de l’agriculture.

I resisted the urge to post about this on Friday. Like most people, I was shocked by the announcement that President Obama was the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. I was even more shocked when my friends over at The Western Experience pointed out that since nominations were due February 1, whoever nominated Obama must have done so less than two weeks after he’d taken office.

In trying to decide what to write about this, I had the following thought: If I post that I think the selection of Obama is ridiculous, surely someone will ask the question: If not Obama, who do I think should have received the prize? I figured I had better have an answer to that question before I posted.

In fact, I have two. The first is Morgan Tsvangirai, the current Prime Minister of Zimbabwe. Readers familiar with African events will recall that Zimbabwe has suffered under the dictatorship of the increasingly erratic and ruthless President Robert Mugabe for many years. Tsvangirai was the President of the Movement for Democratic Change which opposed Mugabe. He ran against Mugabe in both 2002 and 2008; both elections saw massive fraud to keep Mugabe in power. Eventually, under international pressure, Mugabe agreed to a power-sharing agreement, but is suspected of having tried to assassinate Tsvangirai less than a month after the latter took office.

As an opposition leader, Tsvangirai condemned massive and widespread human rights violations by Mugabe’s government. In the course of his speeches and work for reforms, he has been repeatedly arrested, beaten, tortured, and survived three assassination attempts. Against this background, and the severe circumstances facing the people of Zimbabwe, no one would have been surprised if an armed revolt had arisen. But Tsvirangai has consistently urged that the country’s problems be resolved by peaceful means, and it was in that spirit that even though he had won the 2008 election, he agreed to share power with the man responsible for his torture and attempted murder. Frankly, Barack Obama may never accomplish anything as impressive in the cause of peace as this.

My second choice for the Nobel Peace Prize would have been the King of Thailand, King Bhumibol Adulyadej. I can understand why this would have been a controversial choice, because of the King’s involvement with the 2006 military coup that overthrew an elected government. But the King has a well-documented history over half a century of working to maintain peace and prevent civil strife both within Thailand and with respect to its neighbors. (And the Nobel Committee can hardly claim that it chose Obama to avoid controversy.)

Meanwhile. members of the Committee continue to display their cluelessness and/or disingenuousness:

“We simply disagree that he has done nothing,” committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland told the AP on Tuesday. “He got the prize for what he has done.”

Jagland singled out Obama’s efforts to heal the divide between the West and the Muslim world and scale down a Bush-era proposal for an anti-missile shield in Europe.

“All these things have contributed to — I wouldn’t say a safer world — but a world with less tension.”

Translation: Obama has accomplished nothing to make the world safer, but he made us hand-wringing Europeans FEEL BETTER!

He said most world leaders were positive about the award and that most of the criticism was coming from the media and from Obama’s political rivals.

Funny, I wasn’t aware that the purpose of the Nobel Peace Prize was to curry favor with the world’s heads of state. What an amazing thing. Why don’t we just let the heads of state vote, then, and dispense with the Committee altogether?

Aagot Valle, a left-wing Norwegian politician who joined the Nobel panel this year, also dismissed suggestions that the decision to award Obama was without merit.

“Don’t you think that comments like that patronize Obama? Where do these people come from?”

Translation: If you think Obama’s selection was inappropriate, you are a racist hillbilly. (As if no one ever questioned all the white recipients of the award?)

Anyway, I hope with the above we can now dispense with the nonsense that there was “nobody better to give it to.”