The sign of things to come before Mugabe’s, Tsvangirai’s second clash

To borrow from Rev. Jeremiah Right, the controversial Barack Obama’s pastor, the chickens have come home to roost in Zimbabwe. These are the days of mayhem in the highly famished but repressive South African nation, as the leader of the opposition MDC, Morgan Tsvangirai, returns home to prepare for the rerun of the disputed presidential poll, which many believe he won, but denied victory by Mugabe and his cohorts.
Tsvangirai, who spent six weeks in some African countries apparently to escape the wrath of his adverseries who see him as an agent of the West, returned to Harare on Saturday, thus setting the stage for the June 27 rerun.
However, Mugabe still roaring like a scourged viper, spit fire on Sunday against the U.S. Ambassador, James McGee .McGee incurred Mugabe’s anger for reportedly urging Tsvangirai to return from his six-week exile to prepare for the poll.
Mugabe said of the diplomat: He says he fought in Vietnam, but fighting in Vietnam does not give him the right to interfere in our domestic affairs.
"I am just waiting to see if he makes one more step wrong. He will get out. As tall as he is, if he continues to do that I will kick him out of the country."


Turning to the U.S. top envoy for Africa, Jendayi Frazer, Mugabe said: "You saw this little American girl trotting around like ... celebrating that the MDC had won. A disgraceful act."
Mugabe has bounced back and ready to sting any real or imagined MDC sympathiser. A broadcaster said to be aiding the opposition was sacked last week. Now, what gives the world the hope that Tsvangirai can survive and stand the election?

Links:

Observer

Guardian

U.S. State Department

Allafrica.com

Iyabo Obasanjo remanded over $2.5 million

After many weeks of evading the court and the law enforcement agents, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, daughter of Nigeria’s immediate past president, was today remanded in police custody on the orders of an Abuja Court.
Iyabo, who represents Ogun State, is being wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in connection with allegation that she benefitted from the sharing of $2.5 million unspent health ministry budget over which two minsters -Adenike Grange and Gabriel Aduku, have been forced to quit.
Even with the court order, she declined interview with the EFCC. Although she pleaded not guilty to the charge, the court ruled that she be remanded until her bail application is considered on Wednesday.
Iyabo is claiming that she did nothing wrong in getting $85,000 for Nigeria’s Senate Committee on Health, which she chairs, to attend a capacity-building workshop in Ghana. She is also claiming that she is being witch hunted by the EFCC, which was set up by her father.
She has been running away from the EFCC for about a month, insisting that she is the object of attack by the anti-graft body. At a point in April, she was declared missing from the senate, as the commission began to trail her for possible arrest.
The 109-member senate has however declared that they will stand by Iyabo despite her trial by the court on the prompting of the EFCC.
Her arrest and detention is likely to send a strong message to the world that Nigeria is perhaps beginning to be serious in prosecuting the corruption war.
Obasanjo set up the anti-graft in his first term in office. Many, particularly, those who were opposed to his actions and policies, have been sent to jail by the commission in the last few years.



BBC

EFCC

Saharareporters.com

Sunnewsonline

BBC

BBC

Muffled applause for a tower of Babel

Burnt victim on the ground


Mob patrolling Jo'bourg streets in search of immigrants

Something very disgusting and disturbing is unfolding in South Africa, the bastion of hope for the continent. It started as a joke some weeks ago but it is actually gaining momentum as the days go by, raising fears that it might grow to take roots soon.
Club-wielding youths are attacking and killing immigrants without any justification. What has emerged as the background for the latest madness is the exhibition of extreme xenophobia by the mob against their brothers and sisters from nearby Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Pakistan and some other communities staying and doing legal business in South Africa.
As at Monday, the death toll had reached 22 but the mob were not yet satisfied as they continued to rampage on the streets of South Africa and hacking their enemies to death with ease.
It is difficult to understand why the police are merely firing rubber bullets into a crowd that it killing and maiming innocent persons in broad daylight. Most annoying is the scene in which a victim set ablaze by the mob is being spread with fire extinguisher by the police minutes after he had been set on fire. Where were the police when the attackers struck?
If it is a joke, let the government and people of South Africa remember that the country emerged from the brink of segregation to arrive at the present state. In those days when the ignoble apartheid kept Mandela and his compatriots in prison, the world rose in unison to condemn the atrocious act and it finally ended. It would be a serious setback for anyone to stoke the fire of apartheid in South Africa when the scars of the previous one are still fresh in our mind.
Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma must rise at once and put an immediate stop to the folly. The world cannot afford another apartheid in that country.


links:

New York Times

Punch

ANC

BBC

Timesonline

World’s lethargy aids Mugabe's recovery

Did anyone watch Robert Mugabe address the leadership of ZANU-PF in Harare on Saturday?
It was a display of arrogance and defiance laden with unprovoked insults on the U.S., the UK and any country that is not in support of the unparalleled authoritarianism that has been going on in Zimbabwe in the past 28 years.
Although in one way, the belated speech portrays Mugabe as regretting the loss of the March 29 polls to his arch rival, MDC’s Morgan Tsvangirai, he is in another breadth, seen rejoicing over the undue delay in releasing the results, thereby keeping him and his party intact.
To corroborate what I mean, read the direct quotes of the president as captured by the country’s mouthpiece –The Herald.
Going through the speech leaves me with no hope for the opposition. Why am I so pessimistic? Mugabe has been allowed to fully recover from his dilemma and is now barking like a wounded lion, ready to devour anyone on his way and the nearest prey is Tsvangirai, whom many believe won the first ballot.
Since the ‘cooked’ Zimbabwe election results were ‘released’ two weeks ago, the world, media and human rights groups have gone to sleep, leaving Tsvangirai to decide whether to confront Mugabe or not. Of note is the sad fact that no serious pressure has been brought to bear on Mugabe by international bodies charged with such duties. The best we have seen is a passive remark by the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, that he is discussing the rerun of the Zimbabwe election with some countries.
Why would the UN and some powerful nations not confront Mugabe now before he creates a bloodbath in the South African nation and forces the UN to send in troops and humanitarian teams?
Learning from the experience of the last election, Mugabe has now mobilised his arsenal and is already doing battle with MDC supporters and anyone opposed to his repressive regime.
If the streets of Harare are no longer safe for people who voted against Mugabe in the previous election, how are we sure they will be allowed to come out and vote in a rerun now fixed for June 27?
I am just afraid that the world must have lost an opportunity to uphold Tsvangirai’s well deserved victory and free Zimbabweans from the claws of death.



Links:

The Herald

Reuters Alertnet

My Zimbabwe Today

Before we are all consumed by hunger

There are enough reasons for one to be very cynical these days. Food- what gives one the energy to plod on, is drying up, especially in Africa and Asia, raising the stake for people to starve to death, if something urgent is not done to avert the gloom. Most worrisome is the realisation that of the 36 countries listed by the UN as the worst hit by the crisis, 21 are in Africa alone.
As the prices of essential food items soar, pundits are pointing accusing fingers at factors that can hardly bring more food to the menu table. Some are accusing producers of bio fuels of using the land that would have gone for food production for ethanol.
Alex Evans, a researcher with the New York University Centre for International Cooperation, in a new study done for the Royal Institute of International Affairs pins the food crisis on four reasons. Meanwhile, bio fuel, which is something the world was eagerly waiting for since not many are blessed with fossil fuel, is already being vilified as a food predator. Again, Genetically-modified food, GM food, which would have boosted food production in many parts of the world, is being treated with scorn by some countries. It is not a secret that the United Kingdom and many other European Union members still doubt the safety of GM food. If in doubt, read Robin McKie here.
I note the assurance by the WHO that GM foods currently available on the international market pose no risk to anyone and that is what gives me the courage to ask all those still opposed to GM foods to stand down before we all die of malnutrition and diseases.
GM foods are based on laboratory science and empirical data and it is not a sort of voodoism that most paranoid conduct in the forest and groves to mystify their followers, perhaps for pecuniary reasons.
It is time we took whatever measures necessary-scientific and natural, to avert the looming crisis. Everyone must put their mouth where their stomach is.


Links:

Alernet

FAO

Chatham House

Guardian

WHO

Obasanjo and daughter in the 'dock'

They are lucky Rev. Jeremiah Wright is not a Nigerian and does not have the platform to preach his fiery messages there. Now, he would have slammed Obasanjo and his daughter, Iyabo with his GDA: ‘God dam America’ stinger. I am just trying to figure out the right clause Wright would have thrown at of Obasanjo and daughter, who are being called upon to account for the expenditure various sums of money by bodies they supervised.
Obasanjo is to account for how his administration used $16 billion for the improvement of the power sector between 1999 and 2007, while his daughter, a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to explain what she knows about the use of £1.2 billion by the ministry of health.
This is when Wright would have fired the now infamous ‘The chickens are coming home to roost’, or God’am Nigeria-GDN, for shot, if he were to examine what the father and daughter are passing through in Nigeria.
Surprisingly, ‘baba’ has refused to appear before the Ndudi Elumelu-led committee, saying he is indisposed.
Her daughter has also spurned entreaties to appear before the EFCC to clarify issues over the unspent health ministry budget over which two ministers were forced to resign.
She rather wants the anti-graft body to be called to order, saying that she was being unduly haunted. Well, that is a matter for the court to decide.
But, whether Obasanjo and her daughter eventually appear at the court of public opinion, it is all too good to see the two who were above the law a few months ago, being called to account for their actions while they are still alive. It is unbelievable how some 'gods' are being demystified . Isn’t it?



Links:

The United Christian Church

BBC

The Punch

Newsbuster

The Punch

Tsvangirai in the 'lion's den'

Should Morgan Tsvangirai take part in Zimbabwe's presidential election re-run? Yes and no. That is my candid answer. He should not go for any re-run if he wants to stay alive and see the sad end of his tormentor-in-chief: Robert Mugabe.
Many believe that Tsvangirai won the March 29, 2008 election outright and that what the ZEC has simply done is to joggle the vote outcome to suit a Mugabe mindset and prevent the MDC leader from savouring the trappings of the presidential palace, which Mugabe has been enjoying since 1980.
I have heard several propositions on the election. If you ask Zimbabaloola, a blogger on Frontline Club, he would tell you that the MDC chickened out by running away from Harare instead of going to the street to combat Mugabe's ‘mad dogs' and claiming his victory.
To those who think like this blogger, Tsvangirai is a coward and he has already lost a golden opportunity to sacrifice a few thousands of his supporters and get victory at the end.
Now, tell me how a free and fair presidential re-run can be conducted when all those known to have supported Tsvangirai have been driven aground and the MDC headquarters raided by Mugabe forces for no tangible reason than to intimidate them.
I am disappointed that neither the United Nations nor the African Union has voiced out opposition to the proposed re-run between Mugabe and Tsvangirai in the face of killings and intimidation of MDC sympathisers. The atmosphere for a credible poll does not just exist in Harare and it will be suicidal for Tsvangirai and his men to take part in the contest. They should not forget an African proverb that it is only a man who does not want to eat coconut that offers his head to be used in breaking it. But come to think of it: if Tsvangirai boycotts the election, Mugabe would be declared president for the umpteenth time and if he contests, ZEC, police and ZANU-PF would still connive to rob him of victory and nothing would happen.
As things now stand, Tsvangirai and his MDC are already in the lion's den; only God can salvage

them from the dungeon.

Links :

BBC

Mugabe's Palace

Frontlineclub

Frontlineclub

Wayne Blank

Conspiracy against Tsvangirai, Zimbabweans

A big setback to the democratic wish of the people of Zimbabwe has already taken place in that famished nation. It is not only painful to those who voted for change in the country but it is also a worrisome development in the Southern African nation. But it does not come as surprise to those who have been following the game plan adopted by Mugabe and his lieutenants since the conclusion of the March 29, 2008 election.
It is clear to the world that what Mugabe could not get from the ballot paper; he has successfully used his supporters- war veterans, police and soldiers and electoral agents to subvert the wish of the people.
Of course, it’s clear that if Mugabe had won the election, the results would have come almost immediately the votes were collated. But that he lost and being a bad loser with an eye still set on the presidential mansion, he has been keeping a disturbing silence while pursuing the opposition with hammer and chainsaw.
Now, even before the results are released by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, top ZANU-PF officials are already armed with the figures for Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai.
While they made the people to believe that it was not possible to get the results out at once, Mugabe and his lieutenants knew the outcome and were merely working on measures to scare the opposition and stay on.
The country’s UN Ambassador, Boniface Chidyausiku, was so convinced that Mugabe had lost to Tsvangirai that he proposed a unity government only for a ZANU-PF spokesman, Bright Matonga, to dismiss Tsvangirai as a sell-out.
The world can now see whose handwriting they are reading on Zimbabwe’s wall.



Links:

Timesonline

Telegraph

Allafrica.com