Daily International News 11.11.09
Yes…I’m in the office on Veterans’ Day.

Koreas

‘US envoy to N Korea’ after clash [BBC]

SKorea troops on high alert after navy skirmish [AP]

Central/South Asia

Cambodia rejects demands to extradite Thaksin [Phnom Penh Post]

AfPak

3 Top Obama Advisers Favor Adding Troops in Afghanistan [NYT]

Middle East

Saudis ‘to keep up Houthi campaign’ [Al-Jazeera]

Yemen, U.S. sign military deal as country fights rebels [Reuters]

Abbas resists U.S. pressure to resume peace talks [Reuters]

Europe

EU to name first permanent president on 19 November [EU Observer]

Life for German Who Killed Woman in Court [NYT]

Africa

Zimbabwe PM attends cabinet after ending boycott [AFP]

Don’t let it be contagious: The neighbours of a shaky west African state fear that its instability could spread [Economist]

Americas

OAS Insulza admits frustration with the stalled Honduras situation [MercoPress]

Though Mr. Tsvangirai’s MDC agreed to resume attendance of cabinet meetings, the regular Tuesday session was put off until Wednesday because President Mugabe is traveling… From VOA. Full story

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Křesťanská aliance Zimbabwe, která sdružuje zimbabwské katolíky, anglikány a eevangelikály, vydala prohlášení, podle kterého hrozí v zemi kolaps vlády a krveprolití v důsledku střetu mezi premiérem Tsvangiraiem a diktátorským presidentem Mugabem. Více informací na Res Claritatis.

When President Robert Mugabe first rose to power United State’s President Jimmy Carter told the London Times Mugabe was a “very gentle man” whom he “can’t imagine … ever pulling the trigger on a gun to kill anyone.”

Fast-forward three decades, and the United States position on the Mugabe has evolved quite a bit.

In our final segment on Zimbabwe Newsy will be taking a look at the role and influence of the West in Zimbabwe and their aims to help a failing country under a fanatic leader.

President Robert Mugabe initially received praise for his strong leadership when he first took office in the early 80s.  Now, the West is doing what they can to see Mugabe share power with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in the newly enacted coalition government.

In a speech given to the U.N. General Assembly this week, President Robert Mugabe said,

“We wonder what their motives are? And we ask what they would want to see us do.

Working strenuously to divide the parties in the inclusive government.  If they will not assist in rehabilitating our economy, could they please stop their filthy clandestine divisive antics.”

Mugabe goes on to state,

“…Where stand their humanitarian principles, we ask, when their illegal sanctions are ruining the lives of our children?”

And then asks for the sanctions on Cuba to be lifted as well.

In 2003 President George W. Bush put sanctions on Zimbabwe that included travel bans, freezing assets, and a ban on more than 250 Zimbabwean individuals and companies from doing business with the United States. The European Union has similar sanctions against the country

In an interview with CNN’s Chrisitane Amanpour last month, Robert Mugabe was asked how he was planning on correcting the current economic crisis, he replied:

“The sanctions … sanctions must be lifted.  And we should have no interference from outside.  The continued imperialistic interference in our affairs is affecting the country, obviously.”

Other South African leaders are also asking for the sanctions to be lifted. Deputy President of South Africa defended the South Africa’s position, stating in Mail & Guardian,

“This call for the lifting of sanctions is not aimed at protecting and defending President Robert Mugabe as an individual.  It is meant to attract necessary investments into Zimbabwe so that their economic recovery plan can take effect.”

In the meantime, Zimbabwe has found another country to help them out- China.  In July Tsvangirai stated Zimbabwe was able to secure lines of credit worth $950 million from country. Zimbabwe needs an estimated $8 billion to rebuild the country’s devastated economy. 

But recently President Robert Mugabe has been attempting to re-establish friendly relations with Western nations,

“Our country remains in a positive stance to enter into fresh, friendly and cooperate relations with all those countries that have been hostile to us in the past.”

Parade Magazine named him 2009 world’s worst dictator, jumping ahead of other notorious leaders from Sudan and North Korea. He has been blamed for the downfall of his once wealthy country, subjecting his people to cholera outbreaks, poverty, starvation, and one of the lowest life expectancy rates.

Robert Mugabe was hailed as a hero when he helped liberate the country in 1980, but since then, has veered far from his first message of democracy.

In 2000 the economy began to collapse when Mugabe began the seizure of almost 4,500 white owned commercial farms for redistribution to Zimbabwe’s black farmers.

At the time whites owned 32% of Zimbabwe’s most fertile agricultural land, compared to one million black peasant families who owned just 38%; a problem that was created in colonial times when blacks were forced off their ancestral land by the Europeans.

But Mugabe has no plans to reimburse the white farmers for the land they have lost.  Instead he states in Mail & Guardian,

“The responsibility of compensation rests on the shoulders of the British government and its allies. We pay compensation for developments and improvements. That’s our obligation and we have honored that. Above all Zimbabwe upholds the sanctity of property rights…. Sure there must be some compensation. Let’s join hands and appeal to the British.”

Other Zimbabweans, such as now Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, would beg to differ.

“Some of the land stock that is in the government’s hands has ended up in city government officials or ministers and the people who need the land have been excluded.” (7:43-7:53)

And as a result, food production has plummeted, leaving millions to starve and millions of farm workers have now been unemployed.

Then, between August 2008 and July 2009 close to 100,000 cases of cholera were reported and over 4,000 people died as a result.   Inadequate drinking water and the lack of food fueled the cholera outbreak, a disease caused by eating or drinking contaminated food or water. 

A crisis Mugabe outright denies in the midst of the outbreak during a televised address:

“I’m happy to say that our doctor’s have been assisted by others and WHO have now arrested cholera.  So now that there is no cholera there is no cause for war.” (0:13-0:29)

Mugabe again blames the West for the problem.  Accusing them of trying to use the outbreak as a means to oust him from power.

Zimbabwe’s Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu described the cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe as a

“…genocidal onslaught on the people of Zimbabwe by the British,” likening it to  “serious biological chemical weapon” used by the British…”

But now, even as the cases have slowed down, there is still fear of another round of outbreaks due to the lack of action taken by the Zimbabwe government and Mugabe. 

Inflation has further caused the Zimbabwean dollar to plummet, a soda at one point costing $300 billion.  The fall in value has forced many to use foreign currency.  Currency they have little access to.

“I don’t have that money. I’m Zimbabwean and I just want to use the Zimbabwean dollar.  Most people are saying give me US dollar. Where can I get US dollar if I am Zimbabwean?” (2:06-2:16)

A problem for the estimated 94% of the population that is unemployed.

Still, with starvation, high inflation, and deadly outbreaks there is little hope of new leadership.  Mugabe has long been accused of threatening those who oppose his policies, including the last election.

“Opposition supporters rounded up and forced to vote for Robert Mugabe while gangs roam the country hunting down those who have tried to boycott this poll.  Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader who pulled out because of the violence says the results will only reflect the fears of the people.”(0:3-0:28)

Meanwhile, former United States Ambassador to the United Nations Andrew Young believes Mugabe is not the only one to blame for the troubles in Zimbabwe.

“Mugabe is not hurting Zimbabwe. The U.S./ British embargo is hurting Zimbabwe.” (7:00-7:10)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-na_qSoIo2k

]]> http://amakuruafrica.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/catching-up-with-the-zimbabwe-government/ Tue, 03 Nov 2009 03:13:37 +0000 M http://amakuruafrica.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/catching-up-with-the-zimbabwe-government/

President Robert Mugabe first rose to power  in the newly formed country of Zimbabwe in 1980 after helping the country gain independence from Britain.  Seven years later, he became president, a title he has since held.

Mugabe was frequently revered as a great leader when he first took office by the international community, a leader with a clear view of what he wanted for Zimbabwe.  In a 1974 interview a journalist questions the president on his hopes for Zimbabe.  He asked Mugabe if he ever saw free elections for the country, Mugabe replied,

“Yes, of course. Why not? We are fighting for democracy.  We would like to see a democratic state established in Zimbabwe. And this means a state based on the majority of the people.”

Fast forward more than 30 years to the 2008 presidential elections and the news reports tell a different story.

“ Overnight, they had been dragged from their homes and beaten by Mugabe supporters….

President Mugabe went on to lose the 2008 March presidential election to opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change Party.  And a few months later, he ordered a run-off after refusing to step down from power.  Mugabe won, but amid accusations of election tampering.

Claims he denies in an interview with Al Jazeera English.

“No. If rigging the elections means winning the elections through majority voting, then, then let it be. That’s precisely, we will be winning, we will be winning all the time.”

Mugabe has since agreed to a unity government, appointing opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai Prime Minister. The Zimbabwe government is now a joint coalition with Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party and Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Party.  A relationship that seems anything but agreeable.

In a radio interview with UK’s The Guardian last August, Tsvangirai stated he and Mugabe were working together affaby.

“Journalist: You, you believe he does have capacity to change? Or has changed already?

MT: I don’t see any attitude of perpetuating hate or division, polarization of the country

Journalist: It must be hard for you sometimes, you must admit, to swallow what’s been going on in the past and sit down with someone being held responsible for a lot of violence against you personally and your supporters?

MT: what is reconciliation without that? Reconciliation is a major for tolerance across this very serious political divide that exists in this country and how we can stand up as leaders and call nationally unity when between us we don’t like each other?”

But, less than a month after the interview was published, Tsvangirai shared a rather different message at a rally for the MDC party as Africa Times News reported, stating Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party:

“…Continues to violate the law, persecute our members of parliament, spread the language of hate, invades our productive farms…ignores our international treaties.”

Most recently, Tsvangirai has ordered all MDC ministers to stop working from government offices, an order  he too is following until all the political issues are resolved.

Other world leaders seem to agree with Tsvangirai’s hesitation to work with the president.

In 2002 sanctions were applied against President Mugabe when suspicion of election tampering surfaced along with human rights violations.

Those sanctions are still in place in 2009 and European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid says they will most likely stay.

“…the EU would not resume development aid until more was done to implement the nation’s power-sharing agreement and to restore human rights.”

Alternatively, socio-economic analyst Udo Froese told The Zimbabwe Times:

“[The international West] wanted from the onset a government of regime change not a government of national unity… Hillary Rodham Clinton, the US Secretary of State came to visit Africa on her Africa safari, she also visited South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma… and seemed to be leaning on him that he must lean on Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe to finalize the regime change otherwise sanctions would not be lifted….”

The state run Herald newspaper quoted Mr. Mugabe as accusing Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party of pretense, saying Zimbabwe’s cabinet is not a party affair…. From VOA. Full story

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HARARE: Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe called the country’s premier, and his long-time rival, Morgan Tsvangirai "dishonest", state media reported yesterday, casting doubt on whether a dispute threatening the unity government can be resolved…. From The Australian. Full story

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Visitors to Zimbabwe who have been fed a BBC/CNN-type diet of news about ‘The Zimbabwe Crisis’ and how everything in the country has ‘collapsed’ will be surprised at how ‘normal’ Harare looks at first glance. Driving from the airport into town, there are certainly signs of decay since a few years ago, but no immediate or obvious signs of the ‘collapse’ that certain media have in recent years hysterically, lovingly and perhaps even hopefully talked about.

Looking out of the airplane’s windows as it circled to land and on the drive into town in early August, the most obvious change for me was how areas that had once been at least semi-savannah on the outskirts of Harare had been stripped of trees. One manifestation of ‘The Crisis’ in recent years has been the difficulty in accessing forms of modern energy that had once been taken for granted: petrol, diesel, paraffin, butane, coal, electricity, etc. Their availability had been erratic for many years and their cost prohibitive, forcing many people to resort to firewood for energy. Hence the massive deforestation, which I later found was widespread.

The still newish airport is clean and well maintained, though the number of vacant boutiques compared to, for instance, Nairobi airport’s full complement of seemingly thriving over-charging boutiques was one indicator that things were not quite ‘normal.’ On the drive home from the airport there was no dramatic evidence of ‘The Zimbabwe Crisis,’ though the buildings did look shabbier than before and there were definitely more potholes to dodge on the roads. But the over-riding impression for me was the powerful natural beauty and colour of Zimbabwe, not the indices of the difficult times the country has undergone in recent years.

Having had a few days to unwind at home, I began to gradually drive around and explore my home city Harare. There definitely seemed less traffic on the roads than I remembered from a few years ago. Finding a parking spot in the city center was surprisingly easy at any time of day and the roads there were generally in very good shape, as appeared to be most of the visible infrastructure.

In town and in many of the suburban shopping centers there were many more vacant shops than before, but I was also impressed by the number of businesses that had hung on during the difficult years. But almost all had ‘diversified’ in various ways, with all selling a much wider variety of goods and/or services to survive. I thought the general level of service in shops had declined noticeably. I didn’t encounter any outright rudeness but it seemed noticeably common to be met by disinterested, bored and sometimes almost sullen store personnel. Almost all stores I remembered from a few years ago had a much narrower range of goods than during ‘the good old days,’ but many people mentioned to me that what I thought was a limited range of goods was a vast improvement from the situation a few months ago, and that the availability of goods was improving dramatically by the day, one of the early benefits of the US-”dollarization” of the economy.

While the widespread shortages of all kinds of goods was rapidly receding into the past as price controls and currency restrictions fell away, most things seemed very expensive, sometimes absurdly so. In the weeks before my visit home I had visited Europe and the U.S., as well as having passed through Senegal’s capital city Dakar,  a city not known to be cheap, and so I particularly keenly felt the comparatively high cost of goods and services in Harare. It was easy to understand why many Zimbabweans are only grudging in their praise of the ‘normalization’ that has begun to take place. “We are happy the shops are full again but we can’t afford the goods” was a frequent complaint I heard. But even as people grumble about “we can’t afford anything” the shops are certainly not empty of customers, although many merchants and traders said the level of spending was still low and still limited mainly to necessities. Yet all I spoke to agreed that the situation was significantly better than before, and dramatically better than in 2008, the period everyone agreed was Zimbabwe’s low point, with hyperinflation, shortages, violence and political tension and so on at their worst.

As ridiculously expensive as almost everything seemed to be, even in just the one month I was there prices were creeping down to more realistic levels. And if one took the trouble to shop around, which many more people were doing than I remember from before, it was possible to find widely varying prices for the same thing. A big culture change was that even in ‘formal’ shops it was possible to negotiate for price reductions, common in many countries all over the world but previously almost unheard of in Zimbabwe’s stiff formal economy. So merchants are feeling the effects of consumer resistance and growing competition from the opening up of the economy and the greater availability of goods, and they are being forced to respond by lowering their prices. In the shortage economy that had prevailed for several years, the relatively few people who could raise the hard currency to import goods became accustomed to charging huge, arbitrary mark-ups. The merchant was king, not the customer.

One of the most disheartening remaining signs of how Zimbabwe has slid was in the complete absence of a daily media alternative to the state media. There are no daily independent newspapers and at US$2 an issue, the weekly private newspapers are way out of reach of most people. Of course there is no private TV or radio so there is a huge information deficit. But this is not to say the state media dominates the shaping of opinion. Despite its near monopoly, state newspapers, TV and radio are so dull and so blatantly pro-establishment that their credibility is extremely low. The public has largely learned to sense when they are being fed propaganda instead of news, which is rather often, and to dismiss and ridicule it even if they don’t know for sure what the other sides of the story are. Even more than before, the propaganda is so crudely done that I found myself often marveling that the government didn’t find it embarrassing and a negation of its attempt to win heart and minds. The stiffness, awkwardness and the over-the-top nature of much of the state media in the support of Mugabe and ZANU-PF and against Tsvangirai and the MDC had an almost surreal, self-defeating quality in its crudeness.

President Mugabe is still ass-licked by the state media as much as ever before, and in a way that I do not think does him any credit. One big change was that Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Gideon Gono was no longer the swashbuckling public hero the media had tried to make him out to be when he was first appointed five or so years ago, promising to swiftly bring down hyper-inflation and perform all kinds of other miracles. Even in the slavish state media Gono’s gloss had long turned dull, with him now struggling to defend his controversial legacy to a tired-of-him, sceptical public. One would have to have been there in his early days in office and to experience what a dominant public presence he came to be to understand how far the man has fallen in public esteem.

Electricity and water cuts were frequent, although even in these regards many people said I had visited when the situation was getting much better than it once was. People are inconvenienced but out of necessity have had to adjust, and the down times are handled very matter of factly. Up until a few years ago I had never even seen a fuel-powered electricity generator but now many in the cities who can afford them have them and they are widely advertised in the Press. Those who have boreholes or wells can avoid the worst inconveniences of the periods without running water, but I was shocked by the number of people who calmly mentioned having gone for months without seeing a drop of municipal water in their taps, a major cause of last year’s cholera outbreak.

Visits to some of Harare’s once-bustling industrial areas were depressing. A few years ago a quick drive through any of them would have been enough to show anybody why Zimbabwe’s economy was the sub-region’s most dynamic after South Africa’s. Now they are quiet, many companies still open but quite clearly operating at a low level. The areas do not have the bustle of before; buildings, roads and company premises are no longer maintained like they once proudly were. But from job-seekers to company owners, many people said whereas most companies were just treading water for several years, there are now signs of activity picking up as a result of the policy changes in the economy and the relative political calm.

With low productivity in agriculture and industry for several years, and given all the crises the country has undergone, it is startling to see the number and proportion of smart late-model luxury cars on the streets of Harare. There seemed a very bizarre disconnect between the economy under-performing as it has done for years and the number and types of expensive cars which would have turned one’s head even in a wealthy, ‘normal’ economy. While the signs of the lack of investment in many critical areas of the economy were everywhere, this certainly did not seem to extend to the cars many higher-ups in government and the private sector drive. I’m still trying to figure out what this says, and whether this is positive or not.

My impressions are of a tiny slice of life in Zimbabwe. For instance, I only made two one-day forays into rural areas to visit relatives, and only made one other one-day trip out of Harare during my one-month stay. There are obviously many parts of the traumatic economic and political period Zimbabwe is just coming out of that will only be fully understood by those who were there during it. But the instinctive adaptation that one “who was there” undergoes to the rapidly changing situation is also precisely why it can be hard for them to pin down and catalogue the changes, even though they will have an insider’s deeper understanding of events they were a part of. On the other hand an inside-outsider like me, visiting for the first time in about three years, can much more quickly see what is different even if he has no first-hand knowledge and experience of the factors and events that drove the change.

When I ended my previously visit to Zimbabwe, in early 2007, it was with a very heavy heart. The economy was very steadily declining and the tensions between the rival political parties escalating. That state of affairs had been on-going for close to 10 years. There was a widespread sense that the country was still going down, with no one able to guess when we would hit bottom or how bad things would be then. I left home then worried and depressed.

My feelings were quite different this time. There remain many political and economic problems but there is now a widespread feeling that the worst is behind the country. There is not the same feeling of widespread political dread and economic desperation, even though things are far from easy or back to any definition of ‘normal.’  Everybody grumbles about how high the cost of living still is, but unlike before, prices are stable and in many cases even declining, and goods are widely available, which is a very different scenario from early 2007!

I found widespread relief at the existence of the inclusive government of the major political parties, and I thought that most people were generally much less passionately partisan than I remembered. I also think cynicism about all politicians was higher and more widespread than before, which may be a good sign!

The last ten years or so have been a lost decade for Zimbabwe in many ways. And there is no guarantee that the beginnings of stabilization that are being experienced will take hold or that the country will organize itself to get close to meeting its great potential. The possibility of the political parties going back to the bitter fighting that has contributed so greatly to Zimbabwe’s misery remains very real. But when I left Harare in early September after a month at home, for the first time in many years I felt the stirrings of hope about the country’s prospects.

The power-sharing that the African leaders pressured on the country (and later supported by the US/EU) didn’t work in Zimbabwe when the presidential elections ended in decidedly undemocratic means. (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/22/opinion/22thu2.html?th&emc=th)

Now why on Earth would leading global powers want the same thing to happen to Afghanistan? They’re holding elections on November 7th now great, but it seems foolish to insist on a solution that hasn’t worked elsewhere.

I’ve spent most of my blogging time railing against the government and the political issues that have annoyed me in their wrong-headedness.  That was not my intention with this blog.  I always wanted to write some wry humor, making people laugh in a smart way.  Or stupid way.  Whichever gets the laugh.  But politics of the day seems to be the thing that motivates me to action—on the keyboard, anyway.

This week has been no different.  I originally had an idea for a blog on the morning it was announced that President Obama had been given the Nobel Peace prize for…who knows?  Most likely it was a move to try and influence our policy in Afghanistan, but that’s just conjecture.  Anyway, I had this idea to campaign for my own Nobel Prize, but, as is wont to happen, life got in the way (or, more specifically, my lack of time management skills were the culprit).  And by the time I sat down to write it the ideas had already been thrown out there and the timeliness was gone.  (The same thing happened to me with an idea I had for a screenplay that I was going to “get around to writing eventually,” and 18 months later a very similar idea was released into theaters under the title Just Friends.  Apparently the entertainment gods were smiling on me, because nothing would have killed a potential career faster than having THAT as the first item on my resume.)

Now I’m watching the amazing strategy coming out of the White House regarding their “Fox News” strategy—namely, trying to discredit and marginalize the #1 news network in the nation.  Yes, I know Rahm and his lackeys (whom I like to refer to as “Rahm-en’s Noodles”) are arguing that Fox isn’t really a news network, which is incredibly ignorant, but strategically necessary for their purposes.  I’m not going to take the time to debate the merits of their argument because that is the big debate right now (well, on Fox News and talk radio—everyone else is ignoring it, which only proves that they are the ones who shouldn’t be considered news networks, since this is a HUGE story).  What is more interesting to me is looking at the strategy the Obama Administration continues to execute during their first term in office, and how the media and the rest of the world are acting toward them.

Take a look at the Nobel Commission.  They selected Obama after less than 8 months in office, and the nomination was in after 90 days.  What exactly did Obama do in his first 90 days to earn a Nobel Peace Prize?  I understand their reasoning (not that I agree with it), but it makes no sense when you look at some of the other nominees.  To me the winner clearly should have been the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, Morgan Tsvangirai.  Here is a man who faced intimidation, arrest, assassination attempts, and the death of his wife in an “accident” when a truck driver “fell asleep at the wheel” in the most isolated section of highway and ran Tsvangirai’s vehicle off the road (this truck missed the security vehicle in front of and behind Tsvangirai’s).  All of this because he’s leading an opposition party to dictator Robert Mugabe who stole the last presidential election in order to keep power of a country he bankrupted, a formerly prosperous nation whose currency is now worthless because of hyperinflation and economic collapse, thanks to Mugabe’s authoritarian style of ruling, nationalization of Zimbabwe’s most valuable industries, and ruthless targeting of anyone opposing his rule.  Its people are starving and destitute, unable to fight even the smallest diseases because of the lack of availability of medical care.  Few people from the outside even know about this because Mugabe has placed such tight controls on the media.  No foreign reporters are legally allowed in the country because they may report on the plight of the people.  And Tsvangirai has continually put his life on the line to lead the opposition in hopes of overthrowing this dictator and leading his country back to recovery.

I look at what I’ve just written, the situation in Zimbabwe, and it makes my heart break.  But look a little closer.  Zimbabwe has a leader who has nationalized the GDP of the nation; instituted policies that caused hyper-inflation, collapsed the economy, and made their currency worthless; and has taken control of the media and only allows favorable stories to go out while attacking those who dare disagree with them.

Originally I just wanted to make the case that the Nobel Commission made the wrong choice by comparing Tsvangirai’s accomplishment’s with Obama’s.  But now I just wonder if the United States is going to need our own Morgan Tsvangirai in about 10 years.

In a speech in Spain last week, Zimbabwean Prime Minister and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai made a plea to European leaders to ease what he called “restrictive measures” (i.e., economic sanctions) on his country.

Ironically, many of the U.S. and European sanctions were put in place in response to the arrest of Tsvangirai and his supporters by the Mugabe regime. The latest round of attacks, March 2007,  was not the first time Tsvangirai and his supporters were attacked by Mugabe. Regardless, Tsvangirai told the AFP that his country “is emerging from a political and economic conflict. One of the key things that we need to do is to expedite the EU’s rapid dialogue” as well as the easing of economic sanctions.

While outsiders can sympathize with opposition pleas to ease restrictions, it does not make sense to ease sanctions on the Mugabe regime at this juncture. While growing stronger, the opposition is still too weak.  The Mugabe regime still controls the secret police and the military; and Mugabe supporters in the government have failed to reform that country in any meaningful way, continuing to, among other things, wage a battle against what Mugabe said last month were the “bloody whites”.

As compared to the Iran or Cuba program, the U.S. maintains a rather fragile sanctions program against Zimbabwe – mainly against regime officials.  It generally prohibits U.S. persons, no matter where located, and any person located in the United States from engaging in any transaction with any person that the U.S. government finds (1) to be undermining the democratic institutions and processes in Zimbabwe; (2) to have materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support to these entities; (3) to be or have been an immediate family member of a sanctions’ target; or (4) to be owned, controlled or acting on behalf of a sanctions’ target.  There are other measures including the blocking financial transactions by specially designated nationals through U.S. financial institutions as well as denying visas.

Mugabe may have talked peace and democracy decades ago, and he and his supporters are not likely to ever allow freedom to take hold in that country.  The Mugabe kleptocracy rules with an iron fist, using the tools of state to crush, torture, and kill opposition figures.  There is no viable rule of law in Zimbabwe.   And it is not as if he does this without any support from the outside.  For example, the Chinese have been smuggling weapons to the regime for decades who, in turn, keeps weapons or sells them to unsavory types.  State sponsors of terrorism North Korea and Cuba have also meddled quite a bit through the years.

What is even more concerning than the human rights situation are the reports that the Mugabe regime may be allowing radical Islamist groups to find safe harbor in Zimbabwe.  Why bother with Zimbabwe?  Likely to use as a launching pad for attacks in South Africa or for fundraising.  For example, according to a 2005 Jamestown Foundation report, “[t]he possibility of a logistical link emerging between Islamist extremism and Zimbabwe has been the subject of a degree of speculation since 9/11. According to Kroll Associates, a prominent U.S.-based risk consultancy service, there is some evidence to suggest that diamonds procured from the DRC are being traded via Lebanese traders linked to al-Qaeda.”

Engagement with tyrants, in the end, will only empower them.  The opposition can use the current state of play to dig deeper roots.  And the U.S. should consider expanding or robustly enforcing current sanctions to further tighten the controls on the Mugabe regime, if not for human rights, then to advance U.S. interests in the war against radical Islamists.

Alfred Nobel

Pouah… Etre chômeur c’est dur ! Faut se lever tard… Ben oui, levé aujourd’hui à 9h un peu dans le gaz, puis ensuite douche et vient le temps du petit-déjeuner. J’allume la télévision. Je zappe quelques chaînes puis j’arrive finalement à BFM TV, où les journalistes parlaient de l’imminence de la nomination du Prix Nobel de la Paix de cette année. Parmi la bonne centaine de candidats, les (légèrement) favoris étaient Morgan Tsvangirai (opposant zimbabwéen), Denis Mukwege (un médecin congolais qui accueille dans son hôpital des femmes violées et les aide à reconstruire leur vie) ou encore l’un des favoris de l’année dernière : le dissident chinois Hu-Jia. La chaîne parlait également du président français Nicolas Sarkozy (ça m’a fait rire sur le coup), la franco-colombienne Ingrid Bétancourt et de Helmut Kohl (ancien chancelier allemand des années 80-90).

Bon, après ce zappage rapide, je m’en vais chez un ami faire de la musculation. Faut entretenir son corps, baby… Une heure et demie plus tard, je rentre chez moi, j’allume mon PC et lance Firefox qui m’affiche ma page iGoogle (j’ai jamais accroché à Netvibes) et LA, je vois en premier article sur lemonde.fr : Barack Obama Prix Nobel de la Paix. Alors là, pour une surprise, c’est une surprise… Ce matin, j’apprenais que le Prix Nobel de la Paix allait être décerné, et je savais encore moins que Barack Obama était parmi les prétendants ! BFM TV n’en a d’ailleurs pas parlé, si mes souvenirs sont bons.

Je m’empresse de cliquer sur le lien, et je vois les raisons du choix du jury : “Le prix Nobel de la paix 2009 a été attribué, vendredi 9 octobre au président américain Barack Obama, “pour ses efforts extraordinaires en faveur du renforcement de la diplomatie et de la coopération internationales entre les peuples”". Bon d’accord, il essaie d’apaiser le conflit israélo-palestinien mais quand même ! Et j’ai lu aussi qu’il voulait un monde sans bombe nucléaire, alors qu’il détruise déjà la sienne… Je l’aime bien Barack Obama, mais je trouve que d’autres personnes méritaient plus que lui ce Prix Nobel.

Enfin, c’est la vie… Ca m’empêchera pas du tout d’aller voir ma petite amie à Amiens ce weekend. Loin de là

Il regime di Mugabe resta soggetto a sanzioni dopo anni di forte conflittualità interna nel paese africano

Sabato si sono svolti colloqui che hanno visto i rappresentanti dell’Unione Europea impegnati in Africa a proposito della questione dello Zimbabwe. Attualmente il Presidente Mugabe coabita con l’ex avversario Tsvangirai ma la situazione resta molto anomala dal punto di vista della tutela dei diritti politici. La residenza di Mugabe, oggettivamente gravata agli inizi da una situazione di povertà e di squilibri economici esantissimi, si è caratterizzata negli ultimi anni per una accentuazione degli aspetti autocratici, sfociati tra 2007 e 2008 nella violenta lotta tra quello che era ormai il padrone del paese e Tsvangirai che oggi è primo ministro in un difficile equilibrio.

Elezioni contestatissime si erano già svolte nel 2002. Occorre aggiungere che la lotta politica aperta dal regime di Mugabe indicando come obiettivo la redistribuzione e la crescita economica del paese si è caratterizzata, negli anni più violenti della vicenda, con una crescente aggressività verso la comunità bianca che abita quei territori. Come spesso è accaduto nel Sud del Mondo, i gruppi al potere hanno soffiato sulle ceneri dei contrasti del passato e approfittato delle difficoltà economiche delle etnie nere presenti, nel calcolo di risvegliare il risentimento verso la parte della popolazione di origine europea, che pure indubbiamente ha dato il suo contributo alla crescita istituzionale e finanziaria delle nazioni in via di sviluppo e il cui ruolo non può certo essere negato in un mondo interdipendente.

I rappresentanti dell’Unione Europea non stanno al momento discutendo delle sanzioni, riguardo alle quali non si prevedono cambiamenti perchè la posizione della comunità della Ue è di considerare il problema interno allo Zimbabwe e in altre parole mutamenti nell’approccio restrittivo verso Mugabe saranno messi in agenda quando l’atteggiamento concreto nell’applicazione dei diritti diventerà conforme agli standard internazionali che l’Europa prende a riferimento.

Aldo Ciummo

It puzzled and concerned me as I read a report on the website Earth Times that poses some interesting and potentially dangerous questions about the power sharing agreement made between Mugabe’s ruling Zanu PF party and the opposition MDC party. A Legal practitioner with a background in constitutional issues, Sheila Jarvis, pointed out that the paperwork signed by Parliament six months ago is totally different to the paperwork that was signed by Robert Mugabe himself.

Rule of law in Zimbabwe dictates that in order for an act to be passed it has to be approved by parliament and the President together. According to Sheila Jarvis, “It is impossible, legally, to have an act in two different versions – one version approved by parliament, and another by the president!”

“Until the entire bill is approved by the legislature and signed by the president it will remain as nothing,” she said.

This set of comments came to light as the MDC seem to have discovered that only half of the 36 page document approved in parliament was sent to the president’s office for signature. Apparently the Attorney General’s office did not bother with the missing pages because the “Weren’t important and the office wanted to save on paper.” Since when has paper been an issue for a government department when it comes to approving an act of parliament?

While the MDC has registered its concern about the flawed process, the worrying factor is that Sheila Jarvis points out in her interview that the missing text could give Mugabe absolute control over the management of future referendums, including one on the new constitution  in 2010.

What really concerns me is one simple question. What does this revelation do to the validity of the Act that empowers MDC as a fully fledged partner of this power sharing government? Is this just another ploy of the existing regime to thwart the efforts of the MDC? Does this mean that all their hard work goes to the dogs?

Admittedly we can all stand back and say that the power sharing government has not been at all what any of us expected or hoped for. But let’s be honest, it is not easy to be in Morgan Tsvangirai’s shoes. I have heard and read a lot of critisism of the MDC and Morgan in recent months, but he is a mere man in a lion’s den. And these are not the type of lions we read about in the parable of Daniel in the Lion’s Den.

With both hands tied, even Morgan Tsvangirai questions the commitment and support of this process from others involved in making the transition to a free and fair democratic society. In his speech to his supporters in Manicaland this weekend, Hon Tsvangirai said he believed that there were people working against the spirit of the people of Zimbabwe.

If this is the case, and there are fundamental flaws in the legal process that gives the GPA its powers then where are we really headed? It’s all very well for Hon Tsvangirai to say that the party refuses to be seduced into other ways of solving the crisis in Zimbabwe, but what will happen when faced with an election the MDC realises it is powerless?

In some ways I admire the MDC for even agreeing to work with the Mugabe regime. They took on a massive challenge, and knew that the competition would not play fair. They have been hood winked, and thwarted and yet have still made progress in some ways. The Zanu PF pour criticism on the fact that the MDC have not succeeded in lifting the sanctions placed on Mugabe and his cronies, and I smile when I read this.

It’s not MDC’s job to clear Mugabe’s name. Let the man come out himself and convince the world he is worth of forgiveness. Yes forgiveness. Not for being a part of the struggle to free Zimbabwe as it deserved to be freed. But forgiveness for bringing a nation to its knees and destroying the livelihood and prosperity of a people. Why should the MDC struggle to get sanctions against the Zanu PF dropped? There are far more pressing issues at stake.

There is no easy answer for Zimbabwe, and I think I agree with the sentiment that so many seem to echo when I read their blogs and reports. Zimbabwe will never come right until such time as the central power house of Mugabe and the Zanu PF is broken and removed to allow freedom of choice and pure democracy to reign in Zimbabwe again. Mugabe did not win the war of Liberation on his own. Many people fought and sacrificed far more than he did. A nation of black people fought to be allowed to choose their leaders, provide a home for their children and own land for prosperity. This is not the result Zimbabwe has enjoyed under Mugabe. It would seem life is harder today than in 1980 when Mugabe took his place at the helm.

I can only watch as others far from home do, and read the reports and feel dismay at the chance that all the progress we thought we had made is now in jeopardy. I hope for the sake of Zimbabwe and the world beyond that the progress gained thus far is not blown out of the water by a megalomaniac dictator hell bent on keeping control of “His Zimbabwe!”

Tuesday 4 August 2009

Travel to Zimbabwe used to be so much easier: a single ten-hour flight from London Heathrow direct to Harare. Unless you want to risk flying with Zimbabwean Airlines, you now have to fly to Johannesburg, hang around waiting for the Transit Desk to get its act together (it doesn’t…) and then fly back to Harare with South African Airways. Perhaps the (forced) softening of Mugabe’s stance towards Britain and the West – seen most recently in the re-admission of the BBC and other media agencies into Zimbabwe – might eventually restore confidence in direct travel from the UK to Harare.

It is the first time I have flown with Virgin and I am hooked. Every aspect of the journey was superb; I was very impressed.

Having not slept overnight for more than 30 minutes, I was pretty tired and travel-weary by the time I got out of the airport in Harare. Bishop Ishmael (with whom I am staying – Bishop of the Diocese of Central Zimbabwe) took me for lunch in the centre of the city where we were joined by the recently-consecrated Bishop of Harare, Chad Gandiya. Chad is an old friend from London and it was great to see him in his new role and with the vision and energy to set about the hard work ahead of him.

For those new to ‘Zimbabwe’, the Diocese of Harare was taken apart by Bishop Nolbert Kunonga who was displaced two years ago and is no longer recognised as an Anglican bishop anywhere in the Anglican Communion. Bishop Sebastian Bakare (the retired Bishop of Manicaland) was brought in for a couple of years as caretaker bishop while the process began to identify the next permanent bishop. Sebastian is a brave man who challenged the Mugabe-backed Kunonga and has seen the diocese through its own internal struggles as well as the nadir in the economic and political conditions of this once-thriving country. The future now looks relatively reasonably hopeful – for the first time in many years.

We spent a long time discussing various matters to do with Zimbabwe and the Church here before we were joined by a British diplomat with whom I have communicated by phone and email since before he came out here a year ago. Again, his insights were astute and stimulatingly helpful. He observed that the country now bears no resemblance to how it was when he arrived exactly one year ago.

When I was last here in April 2007 there were constant electricity cuts, the water kept going off (sometimes for days on end), the shops were emptying and the inflation rate was an absurd 10,000%. By the time the diplomat arrived here inflation was heading towards 230,000,000% (whatever that means), the currency had become worthless, nearly 90% of the population was unable to work and the situation was appalling. Cholera was kicking in at the end of 2008 and the future looked grim – possibly violent. The stitched up re-election of Robert Mugabe as President – a shameful and scandalous travesty of justice – saw violence and intimidation on a huge scale.

The contrast now is remarkable. There are cars on the roads, the streets are full of people looking more optimistic and purposeful than they did in the past and the supermarkets are full of food and all the other goods you’d expect to find in them. Since Morgan Tsvangirai joined Mugabe in the Unity Government – a high-risk decision for lots of reasons – things have begun to change for the better in Zimbabwe. Despite losing his wife and grandson in two separate accidents since his appointment as Prime Minister, he has stayed on track, changing the landscape of Zimbabwean possibilities.

The Zimbabwean Dollar is now dead. The national currency is de facto the US Dollar, but trading is also done in South African Rand, Sterling and the Euro. Confidence in the future can be measured by the willingness of businesses to use credit and re-boot the economy. Optimism about the future might be hedged in with cautious caveats born from past experience, but people are walking taller and there is a sense of purposefulness about the place again. It simply feels different. One professional person put it to me like this: ‘Nobody wants us to go back to where we were last year; it simply cannot happen.

These are early days in the rebuilding of the country and many struggles lie ahead. But there are signs of hope now that were not here two years ago.

Secretary Clinton and South Africa's Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, Aug. 7th, 2009(AP Photo/Karel Prinsloo)

Secretary Clinton met with government officials in Pretoria, South Africa, today:

While praising South Africa as a leading nation the United States hopes to work with in Africa, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday urged government officials in Pretoria to press for reform in neighboring Zimbabwe.

On the second leg of a seven-nation African tour, Clinton met with South Africa’s Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane to make the case for greater pressure on Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to comply with a power-sharing agreement reached with a political rival.

At a news conference following their meeting, Clinton said the chaos just across its northern border in Zimbabwe was a crisis for South Africa. Decades of Mugabe’s authoritarian rule have seen a once-prosperous country become an economic shambles. Inflation once hit 500 billion percent, a world record, though the abandonment of the Zimbabwe dollar in favor of the U.S. and South African currencies has seen inflation ease in recent months.

[snip]
Nkoana-Mashabane said at the news conference that she was present when South African President Jacob Zuma met earlier this week in Johannesburg with Tsvangirai. She said Tsvangirai “confirmed that they are moving forward but that he would want us to encourage … that they move a little bit faster.” She said South Africa and the United States would work together to help Zimbabweans.

Nkoana-Mashabane cited the recent easing of restrictions on foreign media that has allowed CNN and the BBC to resume broadcasting from Zimbabwe as a sign of progress. Comparing Zimbabwe’s coalition to an arranged marriage, she said, “Over time you get used to it and feel that it’s better than no marriage.”

[snip]

Thursday, Clinton said more had to be done to “mitigate the negative effects of the continuing presidency of President Mugabe.” Clinton also said she wanted South Africa’s perspective on how to “strengthen the reform movement inside Zimbabwe and alleviate the suffering of the people of Zimbabwe.”

South Africa had resisted similar U.S. appeals to take a tough line with Zimbabwe during the Bush administration. But U.S. officials said they hoped the new South African government, in place several months fewer than the Obama administration, would adopt a more cooperative stance.

Friday, Clinton and Nkoana-Mashabane spoke of a new era in U.S.-South African relations, with the launching of bilateral committees dedicated to improving economic and political cooperation.

VIDEO from the State Department’s Africa Travel Diary:

(AP Photo/Karel Prinsloo)

Via the NY Times:

Last February, Mr. Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, formed a so-called unity government in the face of a protracted and profound post-election crisis. Since then, five legislators from Mr. Tsvangirai’s party have been convicted of a variety of charges, forcing them to leave Parliament and threatening the party’s slender majority. If Mr. Tsvangirai’s followers lose their majority, Mr. Mugabe’s party would have the power to pass or block legislation without seeking the agreement of its supposed coalition partner…..

In the elections last year, Mr. Tsvangirai’s party won 100 seats in the 210-member lower House of Assembly, supported by a smaller faction of the party with 10 seats. Mr. Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party — the dominant force in Zimbabwean politics since independence from Britain in 1980 — won 99 seats. The jailing of legislators, who must quit Parliament if sentenced to more than six months, has whittled Mr. Tsvangirai’s majority.

Apart from cases already heard or before the courts, 16 other Tsvangirai supporters face charges which they deny. They include the finance minister, Tendai Biti, who faces treason charges. None of Mr. Mugabe’s supporters, accused by human rights groups of waging a campaign of terror during last year’s election season, have been prosecuted.

I first became fascinated by Zimbabwe last year, when I swear it became the closest thing any of us have or will ever see to Ayn Rand’s epic novel Atlas Shrugged, I even wrote a paper in my International Law and Development Class that discussed the how the political institutions of the rather weak Lancaster House Convention allowed Mugabe to establish Rule by Law instead of Rule of Law, but I’m getting off my point, which is that Zimbabwe was fascinating.

In February, Morgan Tsvangirai (his name is pronounced Changirai btw, a fact that still blows my mind.) and Mugabe came to a power sharing agreement that made Tsvangirai PM and gave his party a majority in Parliament, but at the same time allowed Mugabe and his cronies to hold on to some of the power that they had accumulated. Mugabe only accepted this after immense international pressure, and from most accounts he immediately went to work finding ways to undermine this agreement.

Mugabe solution is brilliant, since the people didn’t give his party a majority during the election, he’s simply going to methodically arrest and convict enough of the opposition so that he and his boys do have a majority. If I ever become a tyrannical dictator, I’m going to be sure to keep this in mind.

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ON June 27 this year, the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum (ZEF) organized what it termed the Diaspora Constitutional Reform Symposium and hosted the event in central Johannesburg, South Africa. ZEF was supported by the International Centre for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) and the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA)’s States in Transition Observatory. Between July 20 and July 21 this year, there was a Zimbabwe Civic Consolidation and Regional Solidarity Consultation Forum organized by the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition and the Feminist Political Education Project (FePEP).

Hon. Minister Eric Matinenga speaking in Johannesburg

Activist, Elinor Sisulu speaks in Harare

Some of the issues raised at the ZEF symposium revolved around questions such as; How should a Constitution-making process for Zimbabwe engage and include the Diaspora and the displaced? Who should consult who and how extensive should participation be? What weight should be placed on the role of the lanacaster House Constitution, the 2000 draft, the Kariba draft and the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) draft in the new Constitution-making process? (follow the link to view our picture gallery of the two events)

The specific objectives of the symposium were, among others; to help the Diaspora assess the Government of national unity’s adherence to democratic principles in fashioning a home grown constitutional draft, to facilitate meaningful and effective Diaspora involvement in the crafting of a new Constitution, and to profile the conceptual relationship between the Constitution-making process, the substantive issues contained in the Constitution and the imperatives of transitional justice.

On the other hand, the Regional Solidarity Consultation Forum focused more on the role of civil society in the Zimbabwe’s renewal. This broad term captures issues such as the analysis of the Global Political Agreement signed on 15 September 2008 by ZANU-PF and the two MDC factions, Economic recovery, constitutional reform, transitional justice and national healing, institutional and legislative reform, land reform and international solidarity as a form of struggle.

We bring you the pictures of both these events below. For inquiries on the use of images, please email; zimbabweinpictures[at]gmail[dot]com

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