Leaders gather for Zimbabwe talks

BBC

28 March 2007, 06:41 GMT 07:41 UK

Southern African leaders are gathering in Tanzania for two days of
emergency talks over the crisis in Zimbabwe.
The country's president, Robert Mugabe, will attend the meeting,
called by the Southern African Development Community.

BBC correspondents say support for Mr Mugabe in the region is waning,
after opposition politicians were beaten up while in custody earlier this
month.

The Zimbabwean leader is expected to blame tensions in his country on
an opposition campaign of violence.

Frosty reception

African leaders have been reluctant to criticise Mr Mugabe in public.

They see him as a hero of the fight against colonial rule.

But the BBC's Peter Greste, in the Tanzanian capital Dar es Salaam,
says in private the leaders will give Mr Mugabe a frosty reception.

Our correspondent says South African leader Thabo Mbeki in particular
is likely to put pressure on Mr Mugabe.

South Africa is already taking many refugees from Zimbabwe, and Mr
Mbeki will be aware that a complete collapse there would severely affect his
own country, our correspondent says.

Record inflation

The leaders are expected to tell Mr Mugabe, who has governed Zimbabwe
since its independence in 1980, that he should stand down when his term in
office ends next year.

Zimbabweans are grappling with the world's highest inflation - 1,700%
a year - while unemployment and poverty are widespread.

Critics blame the economic meltdown on Mr Mugabe's seizure of
white-owned farms, while he says he is the victim of a Western plot.

The conference in Dar es Salaam, hosted by Tanzanian President Jakaya
Kikwete, will also focus on the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Recent fighting between the army and militias in DR Congo has left at
least 150 people dead.

Mugabe to brief SADC leaders on political turmoil in Zimbabwe

Business Day

28 March 2007

Foreign Staff

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ZIMBABWEAN President Robert Mugabe will attend an extraordinary Southern
African Development Community (SADC) summit today where leaders are expected
to put Zimbabwe's deteriorating political situation in the spotlight.

The meeting in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, today and tomorrow, is expected to
focus on mounting political unrest in the country amid an economic meltdown
increas- ingly affecting neighbouring states.

Mugabe was expected to brief his SADC counterparts on the situation in his
country, the state-run Herald newspaper said yesterday. Observers in Harare
say he may be grilled on police brutality against opposition Movement for
Democratic Change leaders and supporters two weeks ago. The state-sanctioned
attacks prompted condemnation from the United Nations, the US, the European
Union and the Commonwealth, with Australia the most vocal. At the time, only
one SADC leader, Zambia's President Levy Mwanawasa, spoke out. The regional
bloc came under fire for its perceived silence on the Zimbabwe crisis.
Nearly a week later Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete met Mugabe in Harare.

Mugabe and state media have accused the MDC of fomenting violence in the
country, a charge the opposition party denies. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai
said the SADC should seize this opportunity to tackle the issue decisively.

The summit will be held "to discuss the political and security situation of
the region", said an SADC statement. Kikwete will chair the meeting, which
President Thabo Mbeki will attend.

Renewed Democratic Republic of Congo fighting is also on the SADC. With
Dumisani Muleya

Why Mugabe need not fear SADC peers

Business Day

28 March 2007

Raymond Louw

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

AS AFRICAN leaders of the 14-nation Southern African Development Community
(SADC) sit down in Dar es Salaam today and tomorrow, they will be confronted
for the first time as a group with a problem they have studiously avoided
for years - the crisis in Zimbabwe. While President Levy Mwanawasa of
Zambia - which, like SA, has felt the strain caused by hungry and
disaffected Zimbabweans fleeing its political repression, chronic shortages
of supplies, poverty, joblessness and astronomical inflation - has indicated
a desire to discuss the problem, the rest have tut-tutted and looked away.
Mwanawasa followed his foreign minister's comment that the situation was too
serious to stay silent by saying he hoped the SADC would develop a common
stance on the crisis in the coming days.

One wonders how his resolve will stand up in the face of the optimism of
Tanzania's President Jakaya Kikwete, who said his five-hour talks with
Mugabe had been a "great success" and that the two had "agreed on the way
forward, but it is between me and Mugabe" and "we should be given time".
Kikwete declared this as he and Mugabe emerged from a meeting where Kikwete
had told the Zimbabwean leader that on his latest visit to Europe,
"developments in Zimbabwe dominated most of the meetings between me and the
European leaders". An angry Mugabe brushed aside western condemnation and
said that his critics could "go hang".

It is also to be questioned how far Mwanawasa will get with the development
of a common stance which goes beyond "staying silent", in the face of
President Thabo Mbeki's "quiet diplomacy".

Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad has been sharply critical of the South
African media, which have almost single-mindedly condemned the assault and
torture of Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and his supporters
in the Movement for Democratic Change. Pahad told the media there was "some
credence" in reports that "outside forces" were attempting to effect regime
change in Harare. He accused SA's media of bias, of being "too
sensationalist" in their reporting on Zimbabwe and of devoting "massive
coverage" to the viewpoints of western governments.

A statement that goes beyond "staying silent" is unlikely to come from the
SADC if Mbeki maintains SA's view as expressed by Pahad - as he is almost
certain to - that the current crisis in Zimbabwe could have been averted if
Europe, the US and SA had adopted a common approach to the country's
problems.

"The doors would not have been closed" and dialogue with the government of
Mugabe could have continued, Pahad said. He was responding to criticism at
home and abroad over SA's failure to condemn Mugabe's crackdown on the
political opposition. "It is not our intention to make militant statements
to make us feel good and satisfy governments outside the continent. Only
constructive dialogue between the various political parties in Zimbabwe
could resolve the current impasse," he said.

Also, SA is unlikely to go along with any action that can be construed as
critical of Zimbabwe after it used its position on the United Nations
Security Council to block a debate on the deteriorating situation in
Zimbabwe on technical grounds.

It is also clear SA will press for no action to be taken that has any
resonance with what it terms the "megaphone diplomacy" of the west or the
sanctions the west has imposed on Mugabe and his fellow leaders. Mbeki will
probably go no further than the South African cabinet did when it "voiced
concern about the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe" and repeated appeals
for Mugabe's government and opposition representatives to start talking to
each other.

Malawi has said that it is too early to take a stand on the crisis, while
Botswana, which has also had an influx of refugees, will probably also side
with SA's approach.

So it is almost certain that nothing substantial will come out of the SADC
discussion on Zimbabwe.

It will be an opportunity lost to make a decisive move to bring Mugabe up
short and give support to those in the ruling Zanu (PF) who want to see him
go but who appear to be unable to get their act together.

There is a relatively simple solution, though it goes against everything
Mbeki has been insisting on in SA's relations with Zimbabwe. It is to
roundly condemn the assaults on the opposition and the political repression
in Zimbabwe and point out the damage Mugabe's policies have caused to
Zimbabwe's neighbours, especially in the expenditure of millions of rand by
governments to contain the flood of refugees from across the borders and
repatriate them, apart from the running down of regional trade and commerce.

This should be followed by sanctions that hit Mugabe and his henchmen but
have little effect on the population generally - banning their entry to
other states in the SADC, and campaigning to have the bans extended to the
African Union.

How long can Mugabe remain in power in the face of the condemnation of his
peers in Africa, where he would be relegated to a lonely hermit with
possible forays to friends in China, which itself might rethink its
relations with Zimbabwe in the face of such rejection? Dissidents in Zanu
(PF) would be given a powerful weapon to use against Mugabe and demand his
departure.

There are some who think proposals such as these can end Zimbabwe's headlong
dive into further disaster. They are straightforward, relatively easy to
implement, but from SA's point of view - in the same way as the treatment of
HIV/AIDS was initially - unthinkable.

Louw is editor and publisher of the weekly current affairs newsletter
Southern Africa Report.

Mugabe's rule close to a 'nasty, short and brutish' end, says former right-hand man

· Sacked minister says coup is likely if leader won't quit
· African summit 'timed to force resignation in 2008'

Andrew Meldrum in Johannesburg
Wednesday March 28, 2007
The Guardian

Robert Mugabe's time as Zimbabwe's ruler is drawing to a close and his last
days in office could be "nasty, short and brutish", his former right-hand
man, Jonathan Moyo, told the Guardian yesterday.
He said Mr Mugabe would face a "very high threat of a palace coup" if he
refused to retire voluntarily. "Compelling forces are gathering against
Mugabe's continued rule," said the independent MP who broke with the
president two years ago.

Mr Mugabe confronts neighbouring leaders today at a summit of the 14-nation
Southern African Development Community (SADC) in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.
The body announced the "extraordinary summit" only on Monday and southern
African leaders have scrambled to change schedules to consider Zimbabwe's
crisis.
"Neighbouring leaders and factions within Zanu-PF agree that Mugabe has
become a liability," said Mr Moyo, the former information minister.

"They are pressing Mr Mugabe to retire when his current term expires in
2008. Mr Mugabe does not want to accept that, but even a master politician
has a limited number of tricks in his hat and Mugabe is running out of ploys
that he can use. No one will buy his anti-western, anti-imperialist rhetoric
any more.

"The timing of this summit is very smart. It has thrown a spanner in the
works of Mugabe's orchestrated campaign to run for another presidential
term. I see South Africa's hand behind this move," said Mr Moyo.

He added that Mr Mugabe was planning to steamroller his party to endorse him
for another presidential term at Zanu-PF's central committee meeting on
Friday, but neighbouring leaders had upset his plan.

"I have been to these SADC summits and I know that behind closed doors the
leaders are brutally frank. They will remind Mugabe that he told them he
would retire at the end of this term in 2008. They will tell him he must do
that," said Mr Moyo.

Namibia and Angola have been Mr Mugabe's strongest supporters within the
SADC, but Mr Moyo said they had been persuaded by South Africa and Zambia to
stop protecting the Zimbabwean leader. "The statement issued at the close of
the summit will not strongly condemn Mugabe, that is not the way SADC works.
But I am certain that in the meeting the leaders will have told him in no
uncertain terms that he must retire," Mr Moyo said. "They will tell Mugabe
that his rule in Zimbabwe is dragging down the whole southern African
region. They will say Zimbabwe's economic collapse is negatively affecting
all neighbouring countries."

There are two factions in Zanu-PF opposed to Mr Mugabe, led by the
vice-president, Joice Mujuru, and the housing minister, Emmerson Mnangagwa.

"These factions have already blocked Mugabe's plan to extend his term by two
years until 2010. Now they will oppose Mugabe's plan to run for another
presidential term," said Mr Moyo. "The region, public opinion and the
majority of leaders in Zanu-PF agree on one thing, Mugabe is the problem.

"They know that as long as Mugabe is the leader, things will get worse in
Zimbabwe."

Mr Moyo said Mr Mugabe was likely to fight to stay in power. "That will be
futile and dangerous for Robert Mugabe. The forces are gathering against
him. His back is against the wall. He relies on the police and army ... But
the rank and file no longer support Mugabe and even the majority of the top
officers are no longer loyal. That spells trouble for Mugabe. I believe we
are witnessing Mugabe's last days in power."

Backstory

Jonathan Moyo, 50, has been a controversial figure in Zimbabwe for more than
15 years. As a political science lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe, he
was one of the fiercest critics of Robert Mugabe, writing a book about how
the 1995 election was rigged. In 2000, he made an about turn and worked with
Mr Mugabe as minister of information. But in late 2004 Mr Moyo fell out of
favour with Mr Mugabe when he was seen as challenging the appointment of
Joice Mujuru as vice-president.

Mugabe faces showdown with his party as violence grows

Independent, UK

By Our Special Correspondent in Harare
Published: 28 March 2007

They wore no uniforms. There were six or seven of them that grabbed Jonathan
and pushed him face down on to the back of the pick-up. Some beat him with
guns, others with iron bars. Others still, stamped on his shoulders and
legs.

Jonathan is one of scores of Zimbabwe's opposition activists who have been
targeted by "hit squads", militia loyal to President Robert Mugabe, who are
making a brutal last stand that could see his iron grip on power in Zimbabwe
loosened for the first time in 27 years.

Every night in the impoverished townships these armed gangs hunt
door-to-door for anyone connected to the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change.

"They didn't ask anything," says Jonathan. "They just said you are MDC and
we are going to beat you until you die."

The last thing he remembers before losing consciousness was being marked.

"I don't know what it was. It was made of wood. But they said they were
going to mark me so I would be easier to identify next time."

His mark is a circle of skin the size of a coin gouged from his forehead
above the right eye. The rest of his body is an orgy of bruising, with deep
welts the shape of rifle butts.

More than 100 documented hit squad attacks have taken place in Harare alone
in the past two weeks, as the Mugabe regime seeks to terrorise the
opposition.

Speaking to a packed church yesterday at the highly charged memorial service
for one of the activists murdered during the recent crackdown, student
leader Prosper Mkwananzi voiced the growing anger of a country in crisis:
"If they make a peaceful revolution impossible they are making a violent
revolution inevitable," he told a roaring crowd.

The security forces had originally tried to prevent a funeral for Gift
Tandare, who was shot dead by police at a peaceful prayer meeting. Secret
police stole his body from a morgue and forced the dead man's father to
witness an impromptu rural burial. After several attempts to ban it,
yesterday's service took the form of an opposition rally.

Civil society leader Lovemore Madhuku, one of the regime's staunchest
critics, nursing a broken arm from police beatings, led the calls for
change. "Some of you may not recognise victory when it comes. Today is
victory. They said they would break this memorial. They steal a body...
Fine, you've done that but we still go ahead. Mugabe has given up."

The final word went to Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the MDC, pictures of
whose graphic head wounds put Zimbabwe's plight back in the international
spotlight.

"Oppression is oppression whether it's by a white government or a black
government. Independence alone isn't freedom," he said.

As soon as the service was over another opposition leader, Last Maenghama,
was abducted close to the church. He was severely beaten and later dumped by
plainclothes assailants on farmland 40 miles outside Harare.

Speaking at his home in the suburb of Avondale Mr Tsvangirai told The
Independent that these desperate acts by the state showed his country has
reached a watershed and that the Mugabe era is coming to a close.

"Mugabe has reached a dead end within his own party. He is paralysed. He is
not able to unite his own party. The opposition in the meantime has a new
spirit and people are looking to the MDC for change. These two forces have
never before presented themselves at the same time."

Mr Mugabe could face a palace coup as soon as today, when a meeting of the
ruling Zanu-PF party's politburo must decide whether to back the 83-year-old
as their candidate for next year's presidential election. Senior figures
from within the party led by former army chief Solomon Mujuru are expected
to challenge Mr Mugabe as economic collapse, sanctions and international
isolation threaten both their business interests and political base. Western
diplomats and regional governments are working towards a deal that would see
an interim government replace the Mugabe regime, with a senior Zanu-PF
figure taking on the presidency. That deal would pave the way to the lifting
of sanctions and an aid package to relieve economic meltdown and impending
famine.

One senior diplomat said that there was growing anticipation in the capital
that the ageing dictator's time may be up thanks to the divisions in his own
ranks.

"Wednesday is D-day," she said, referring to the politburo meeting.

Mr Mugabe has to travel on Friday to a meeting of the Southern African
Development Community, in Tanzania where he is expected to come under fierce
pressure to accept an exit package that guarantees him immunity from
prosecution and a sizeable pension in addition to his vast holdings in
Zimbabwe and abroad.

Mr Tsvangirai denied reports that he was already in talks with the Mujuru
faction, but said that an interim solution, as long as it was followed by
constitutional reform and free and fair elections, could work.

"We can do business with the Mujuru faction as long as they are willing to
begin a negotiated settlement."

However, the opposition itself is still deeply split and there is simmering
mistrust of the motives of Western diplomats.

Arthur Mutambara, the leader of one MDC faction, said that swapping one
Zanu-PF dictator for another will not bring an end to the crisis. "These
Western governments become very opportunistic. Sometimes they just want to
get out. They must think about a sustainable result in the long term."

Both MDC factions have sought to heal the rift in the past fortnight and
agree a common campaign of civil disobedience but Mr Mutambara, who has
himself been arrested and harassed, said that it was too early to talk of
victory or tipping points.

"The thing about Mugabe is that he is an irrational player. There is an
implosion within his own party and he's running out of options. But he is
impossible to predict."

With the press and television under tight state control, rumours circulated
by mobile phone text message substitute real news. One day people insist
that Mugabe has summoned 3,000 crack troops known as "black ninjas" from
Angola; the next day, he has placed Solomon Mujuru under house arrest; no
one knows what is true.

Jenni Williams, leader of the women's rights group Woza, said that the
state-sponsored violence was making grassroots mobilisation harder than
ever. "There is a climate of fear and it is huge at the moment," she said.

In a country of informants no one talks freely and with all public
gatherings banned there has been little sign of the predicted mass street
protests. The fear of what the former school teacher and guerrilla leader
will do next stalks the whole country.

Neighbours call Mugabe to account at crisis summit

The Scotsman

MACDONALD DZIRUTWE AND JANE FIELDS IN HARARE
ZIMBABWE'S president, Robert Mugabe, will attend a regional meeting in
Tanzania this week, as pressure mounts on African leaders to tackle his
controversial rule.

Mr Mugabe, who has faced renewed western-led criticism after a crackdown on
opposition leaders, will brief leaders from the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) at the special summit, the official Herald newspaper said.

Regional leaders called the SADC meeting to discuss the political crisis in
Zimbabwe which analysts say threatens to destabilise the region as millions
flee food shortages, 1,700 per cent inflation and 80 per cent unemployment.

Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the main opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC), and other party supporters were arrested and beaten after
attempting to attend a banned prayer meeting this month.

The crackdown raised tensions in the southern African nation, where critics
frequently accuse Mr Mugabe, 83, of political abuses and disastrous economic
mismanagement.

The government blames the MDC and official media has highlighted what it
says are a series of MDC attacks.

The Herald said discussion at the SADC meeting will focus on "the campaign
by the MDC to unleash violence as part of its western-backed efforts for
illegal regime change in Zimbabwe."

The meeting, scheduled for today and Thursday in Tanzania's capital, Dar es
Salaam, is expected to draw 14 heads of state including those from South
Africa, Namibia and Botswana, according to Tanzanian officials.

Mr Mugabe, the country's sole ruler since it evolved out of white-ruled
Rhodesia in 1980, claims the MDC is receiving funding from his western foes
to topple him from power. The MDC has denied the charges.

Southern African countries have remained largely quiet on the Zimbabwean
crisis, but Levy Mwanawasa , the Zambian president, last week broke ranks,
calling the country a "sinking Titanic".

South Africa's deputy foreign affairs minister, Aziz Pahad, said yesterday
that his country would work to effect change in Zimbabwe but repeated it
would not pursue the tougher route of sanctions pursued by the West.

"Zimbabwe and South Africa's economies are very intertwined ... So we would
suffer the most if we are not able to find a solution in the Zimbabwean
situation," he told reporters.

. Suspected state agents abducted Last Maengehama, the MDC's deputy
secretary for local government, in a wealthy Harare suburb yesterday.

South Africa has let Zimbabwe down

Zimbabwejournalists.com

28th Mar 2007 02:50 GMT

By Liberty Mupakati, Leeds, UK

I am one of the millions of Zimbabweans who find themselves out of their
dear motherland due to the repressive and despotic government of Robert
Mugabe. I have decided to join the growing tide of people who are directing
their fury at South Africa, a regional powerhouse that appears to be
exacerbating the suffering of Zimbabweans by its policy of hearing no evil,
seeing no evil and saying no evil.

The attitude adopted by the Mbeki-led South African government leaves a
particularly bad taste in the mouths of most people the world over, as South
Africa's independence came about as a result of collective sacrifices by
people worldwide.

By virtue of its geographical location, independent Zimbabwe played a key
role in the attaining of that independence.

This close geographical location also meant that it provided sanctuary and
refuge to some of the prominent people who are now in government, and
conversely put ordinary Zimbabwean men and women's lives in danger from the
apartheid government that was pursuing them.

A case in point is the 1988 bombing that killed one man in Bulawayo in an
attack that was orchestrated by Kit Bawden.

The reluctance of Mbeki to adopt a more direct and robust approach in the
implosion that is currently happening in Zimbabwe, can be attributed to the
economic benefits that are being derived by South African companies from
their investments in Zimbabwe. It is undeniably true that the South African
economy has benefited immensely from the collapse of the Zimbabwean economy.

Prior to the Mugabe madness of the late 1990s, Zimbabwe could compete
favourably with South Africa in the SADC region, as a possible destination
for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI); its demise has meant that South Africa
is the preferred destination of FDI as Zimbabwe cannot compete anymore.

Witness, how, despite his own country's secure property rights, Mbeki has
done nothing to deter Mugabe from pressing the self destructive button of
not respecting property rights, which has resulted in not only a flight of
capital, but a dearth of FDI as investors are not guaranteed the safety of
their investments.

Like Barclays Bank, which continued to do business with apartheid South
Africa, the South African government has demonstrated that it panders to the
whims of big business by continuing to turn a blind eye to the unravelling
situation in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe, in its present state, is ripe for picking
by South African companies that the ANC led government depend on for
financial support to prolong its stay in power.

Since the crisis started in Zimbabwe in 1999, there are many Zimbabwean
companies that have been taken over by South African ones and if the trend
continues there would not be any companies left in Zimbabwe by 2010 to talk
about. They would all be South African owned. South Africa has benefited
more than any other country in the world by the implosion of the Zimbabwean
economy, as it has been able to recruit Zimbabwe's best skilled workforce
and bought her companies at bargain prices with huge returns. Just like it
did in associating with apartheid South Africa, Barclays Bank has continued
to show its disdain for human rights in its pursuit for super profits. A
recent NGO report stated that the bank is providing the much-needed lines of
credit to the beleaguered regime which have stopped it from crumbling to its
knees.

If the truth be told, the South African government has aided and abetted the
suffering of millions of Zimbabweans through its disgraceful policy of
"Quiet Diplomacy". Like Winston Churchill's much maligned, "Appeasement
Policy" in the run up to the 2nd World War, this policy is doing nothing to
stop Mugabe from perpetrating heinous crimes against his own people, who
have suffered ignominiously throughout his reign.

If anything, the "quiet diplomacy" policy has spurred him to be more daring
in his assault on pro-democracy activists. Mugabe's brutality has escalated
once he realised that there was noone in South Africa willing to rebuke him.

There is a strong case for comparing Mugabe to Hitler, given that both
benefited and felt buoyed by the inability of those with the power to stop
their excesses. Previously Mugabe has been quite comfortable to compare
himself to Hitler.

One would almost forgive Mbeki for doing nothing, as he probably looks at
Mugabe as a hero, a blind camaraderie born through the suffering that these
liberation fathers suffered in their fight to bring about independence.
Zimbabweans wonder why esteemed liberation icons such as Nelson Mandela have
maintained a deathly silence on the Zimbabwean crisis.

It is a given in African culture that it is wrong to criticise elders, and
Mbeki might have an uneasy feeling in endeavouring to bring Mugabe to
account for his actions, seeing as Mugabe is old enough to be his father.
This cannot be the case with Mandela as he is closer in age to Mugabe.

One can not help but wonder why this icon of resistance and revered father
figure of African Nationalism is maintaining an astonishing silence about
the goings-on in Zimbabwe? I remember my fascination with Madiba,
specifically his celebrated defence statement during the Rivonia Trial in
April 1964 which goes thus:

"..Political division, based on colour, is entirely artificial and, when it
disappears, so will the domination of one colour group by another...This
then is what the ANC is fighting. Their struggle is a truly national one. It
is a struggle of the African people, inspired by their own suffering and
their own experience...During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this
struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and
I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a
democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony
and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to
achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die..."

There is a strong case for an analogy between what Mandela and others were
fighting for in South Africa then, and what the Zimbabweans, through the
Movement for Democratic Change led by Morgan Tsvangirai, and other civic
organisations, are fighting for now.

There is a school of thought that Mandela is keeping quiet about the
Zimbabwean issue because he is afraid of undermining Mbeki's stated position
on Zimbabwe. This should be dismissed with the contempt that it deserves, as
there are ample precedents that he has set, notably his openness about
HIV/AIDS as opposed to Mbeki's prevarication on this deadly disease. We all
know what Mbeki's position was or at least that of his government, in so far
as the HIV/AIDS pandemic is concerned.

What the MDC and other civic organisations are merely doing is fight against
black domination which has resulted in the subjugation of an entire
population by an out of touch elite; a tired and clueless elite that is
still in control of the wagons of state by virtue of only having fought the
war.

As has been ably espoused by others in various fora, it is wrong for a black
led government to trample on the rights of its citizens, just as it was
wrong for the colonial governments to do the same to black people. It is
equally wrong that the majority of African governments in general, and the
South African government in particular, to expect Zimbabweans to be grateful
to Robert Mugabe and his cronies for having brought us independence.

This presupposes that we owe him a living for having been part of the
liberation struggle, as if they alone were the only participants in a war,
whose scars still afflict not only the war veterans, but our fathers,
mothers and grandparents who inhabit the grotesquely neglected communal
areas of Chiredzi, Honde Valley, Chipinge, Gokwe, Nkayi, Lupane, and Dande
amongst others. This should not come as a surprise as the liberation war has
been nationalised by this rogue regime and made to appear as if it was only
a Zanu (PF) event. Rather it was a national effort that consumed many lives,
regardless of their ethnicity and political affiliations. It is now apparent
that these liberation war fathers with the tacit approval of the Mbeki led
government have arrogated to themselves the powers to decide what rights
Zimbabweans can and can not enjoy.

It is sad that all the ideals of the liberation war are now being trampled
on by the very people who sold them to us. We were made to believe that
these rights were inalienable and sacrosanct. Even sadder is the idea that
they could, through their surrogates, freely campaign for the NO Vote during
the 1972 Pearce Commission during Ian Smith's rule, yet today they can not
even allow people to congregate for a Prayer Meeting. Is it not ironic that
they are resorting to using the same laws that Smith used to suppress the
rising tide of nationalism against their own people for survival?

Liberty Mupakati can be contacted on liber71@btinternet.com.

Netherlands angry at Zimbabwe's refusal to allow Dutch diplomat's entry

People's Daily

The Netherlands and Zimbabwe are engaged in a diplomatic row following the
Zimbabwean government's refusal to allow The Hague's special human rights
ambassador entry to the country, Dutch daily Trouw reported Tuesday.

Dutch ambassador Piet de Klerk intends to visit Zimbabwe to discuss alleged
human rights infringements.

Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen will make a protest Tuesday to a
member of Zimbabwe's diplomatic service in The Hague, the report said.

Verhagen has made human rights one of the priorities of Dutch foreign policy
since the new government was sworn in last month.

He said earlier this month that the Netherlands would look more carefully
than ever at the records of recipient countries when providing development
aid.

Source: Xinhua

The Problem of Mugabe

Scoop, New Zealand

      Martin LeFevre:
      Wednesday, 28 March 2007, 12:22 pm

Meditations - From Martin LeFevre in California
The Problem of Mugabe
There is a squabble between the West and southern Africa on how to deal with
the sclerotic tyrant Robert Mugabe. Zimbabwe has become a touchstone of the
differences, and indifferences, shared by the EU, US, and AU regarding the
people of Africa. It also provides a painful case in point in the difficulty
of dealing with evil.

The tangled history of Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe encompasses African nations'
struggles for independence from colonial rule; the proxy wars between the US
and the USSR; and decades of blatant corruption in many African countries.
Mugabe is one of the last in a long line of African president's-for -life,
so-called leaders who keep beating the drum of colonialism, while continuing
to abuse, enchain, and impoverish African people.

Things turned really nasty with when Mugabe instituted Operation
Murambatsvina ("Drive out the trash") in 2005, a hideously callous policy of
razing slum areas across Zimbabwe, without providing any alternative for the
impoverished people who inhabited the slums. This crime against humanity,
which turns on its head Jesus' teaching to care for the poor (Mugabe is a
Roman Catholic), has extremely adversely affected the lives of millions of
people.

Ten years ago, female life expectancy in Zimbabwe was 63; it is 34 today,
giving Zimbabweans the shortest lifespan in the world. Inflation is about
1700%, and unemployment is over 80%, making the purchase of food and other
essentials of life a daily nightmare for the Zimbabwean people.

Since forcibly expelling white landowners, who, as a carryover of
colonialism, continued to own a sizable proportion of the prime land in the
country, Mugabe has found another scapegoat for his problems-homosexuals.
The authorities have carried out bribery, detention, beatings, and even
rapes against gays in Zimbabwe.

So far, the EU, led by Britain, has conducted a half-hearted and
hypocritical sloganeering campaign against Mugabe and his ruling party,
Zanu-PF. It is half-hearted because there is no real attempt to bring the
egregious human rights abuses in Zimbabwe before the Security Council. It is
hypocritical because neither Britain nor the United States have one ounce of
moral authority left in the world after their unprovoked invasion of Iraq.

Even so, the "softly, softly" approach by the Southern African Development
Community (SADC), led by Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, is absurdly
inadequate. And when Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete said that his recent
talks with Mugabe were a "great success," and that "we have agreed on the
way forward, but it is between me and Mugabe," one could almost hear Julius
Nyerere turning over in his grave.

Back when Idi Amin was committing similar atrocities against the Ugandan
people, Nyerere, unwilling to wait for the 'international community' to act,
sent Tanzanian troops in to rid the region, and the world, of that tyrant.
Though such a course of action is neither possible nor proper now, that
doesn't mean the SADC leaders should get in bed with the likes of Mugabe,
under the illusion that they can slowly wean him from evil.

The devil and his conduits are nothing if not cunning, and know how to use
truths, and half-truths, to keep themselves in power. The word colonialism,
as Mugabe and others use it in the 21st century, is code for racism; and
racism, although different than in the blatant old days, is alive and well
in the world. So, to that extent the octogenarian ogre Mugabe is right when
he rails against Britain and the United States for hypocrisy.

In terms of disease, poverty, and neglect, Africans suffer more than any
people on the planet. People of color are still subconsciously thought of as
less important. Undercurrents of superiority and inferiority infuse
international politics, and they converge on the continent of humankind's
origins. And Robert Mugabe is a master of exploiting the resentments of
racism.

Is Mugabe an 'African problem,' or does he pose the ultimate challenge to
human society-that of evil in power? Certainly at one level the question
comes down to racial undercurrents in human history. But at another level,
much more relevant to a dark age plunging toward an increasingly dark
future, it is a question for humanity itself.

************
- Martin LeFevre is a contemplative, and non-academic religious and
political philosopher. He has been publishing in North America, Latin
America, Africa, and Europe (and now New Zealand) for 20 years. Email:
martinlefevre@sbcglobal.net. The author welcomes comments.

Interview: Ayittey, Makgetlaneng and Black

In Zimbabwe, state broadcast journalists face criminal charges

CPJ

  New York, March 27, 2007

Two journalists with Zimbabwe's state broadcaster
have been criminally charged in connection with footage of diamond
trafficking in the eastern Manicaland province, according to Media Institute
of Southern Africa (MISA) and news reports.

  Andrew Neshamba, Manicaland bureau chief for the Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Corporation (ZBC), was arrested on February 9 and charged with "criminal
abuse of duty as a public officer" and released on bail the same day,
defense lawyer Victor Mazengero told CPJ. The charges carry a prison term of
up to 15 years and a "level 13" fine, according to CPJ research. Fines vary
due to Zimbabwe's rocketing inflation, but level 13 is the second highest
category of fines under Zimbabwean law, according to veteran lawyer Stanford
Moyo.

  Police allege that Neshamba appeared as translator in video footage
produced by Peter Moyo, a journalist with South Africa's private E.tv
channel, which depicted unregulated diamond mining in the area, according to
local sources. Moyo was later convicted of practicing journalism without
accreditation and fined under Zimbabwe's draconian Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act, according to CPJ research.

  ZBC cameraman William Gumbo was also charged with abuse of duty, allegedly
for assisting Moyo. Gumbo has gone into hiding, according to local
journalists. Both ZBC journalists were suspended without pay and stripped of
their media accreditation, according to local media reports. Neshamba, who
has not entered a plea, is due in court again on May 14, Mazengero said.

  "We condemn these criminal charges against Andrew Neshamba and William
Gumbo," said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. "These charges are an
obvious attempt by the authorities to prevent coverage of a matter of public
interest. They should be dropped."

  Authorities have maintained a heavy police presence in Manicaland after
the discovery of diamonds there last summer, according to international news
reports and local sources. The government is seeking to regulate the diamond
trade.

WARC calls on African Union to Intervene in Zimbabwe

Christian Today

World Alliance of Reformed Churches calls on the African Union to step in,
as the economic, political and humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe continues to
spiral.
by Maria Mackay
Posted: Wednesday, March 28, 2007, 6:51 (BST)

The head of the World Council of Reformed Churches (WARC) has expressed
"grave concern" over the economic, political and humanitarian crisis
unravelling in Zimbabwe.

In a March 27 letter to the Chairman of the African Union (AU) and President
of Ghana, John Agyekum Kufuor, WARC General Secretary Setri Nyomi urged the
AU to intervene in the troubled country.

"It is our hope that through your leadership the African Union will exert
influence on the Zimbabwean government to turn away from injustice and to
seek the return of good governance where all enjoy justice and freedom," he
wrote.

WARC has previously expressed concerne over the lack of freedom of
expression in Zimbabwe, as well as the intimidation of voices of dissent and
the deteriorating economic situation which has led to the increased
suffering and impoverishment for many in the country. Events over the last
two weeks have "heightened our concern", said Nyomi.

He went on to criticise the surge in violence and intimidation lately, which
includes the arrest and beating of opposition party leaders from the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The MDC was meeting to pray for a
solution to the crisis in Zimbabwe.

Leaders of the Student Christian Movement in Zimbabwe, including its vice
chairperson, Lawrence Mashungu, were also arrested earlier in the month.

"The use of violence by government and security forces is unacceptable under
any circumstances. It is especially disturbing when it is used against
people simply wanting to pray for a better country or when they simply wish
to express themselves," Nyomi said.

In a letter to WARC member churches in Africa sent last week, Nyomi asked
for prayers for the people of Zimbabwe and urged national leaders across
Africa to take notice of recent developments.

In a separate media statement also issued last week, Nyomi added, "We are
very concerned about what is happening in Zimbabwe at this time, including
the arrest of leaders of the Student Christian Movement.

"The arrest and intimidation of people in any country, for simply speaking
out in the face of the suffering of their people is truly reprehensible. We
call on the Zimbabwe government to return to the principles of good
governance which will enhance the welfare and freedom of all the people of
Zimbabwe."