Zimbabwe opposition challenges decision for presidential runoff

NF Reporter · 05-02-2008, 12:35 PM

AP - Zimbabwe's opposition challenged official results Friday that say its leader has won the first round of the presidential election with 47.9 percent of the vote — more than longtime President Robert Mugabe but not enough to avoid a runoff.

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waltky · 05-09-2008, 02:32 AM

Guess they don't want to participate in a farce...

Zimbabwe opposition rejects run-off
May 09, 2008 - ZIMBABWE'S opposition MDC will not participate in a presidential run-off against Robert Mugabe, a top party official said today, after reports of escalating violence deepened a post-election crisis.

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The Movement for Democratic Change believes its leader Morgan Tsvangirai won the outright majority in the March 29 election he needed to avoid a second round. But if he does not contest, Mugabe is automatically declared the winner. "Our official position still remains the same that we are not participating," MDC Secretary General Tendai Biti said in Cape Town.

But he said the party will hold talks with civic society groups from Zimbabwe in Pretoria on Saturday and hold a news conference afterwards "to put this issue to rest". South Africa's Foreign Ministry said President Thabo Mbeki, who has been a primary regional mediator in Zimbabwe, will travel to Harare tomorrow to meet political leaders.

"During his visit President Mbeki is expected to interact with the Zimbabwean political leadership," said Ronnie Mamoepa, a spokesman for South Africa's department of foreign affairs. Mr Mbeki, who has faced a barrage of criticism for not taking a tough line with Mr Mugabe, had said there was no crisis in his southern African neighbour. Mr Tsvangirai has said Mr Mbeki was no longer fit to mediate in Zimbabwe.

Weeks of political stalemate have increased tensions in Zimbabwe, which is suffering an economic meltdown that has sent millions of people fleeing to neighbouring countries and left those who remain struggling with the world's highest inflation rate, rampant unemployment and shortages of basic necessities. Critics have accused the ruling ZANU-PF party of resorting to violence to frighten voters.

More Zimbabwe opposition rejects run-off | NEWS.com.au

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40,000 farm workers homeless
May 08, 2008 - SOME 40,000 farm workers and their families have been displaced as a result of violence and intimidation by pro-government militias since Zimbabwe's elections, a union leader said today.

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"Since the elections we have recorded a total of 40,000 people who have been displaced,'' Gertrude Hambira, general secretary of the General Agriculture and Plantation Workers Union of Zimbabwe, told a press conference in Johannesburg. "Our members and their families have been left homeless. They have been attacked by a group of militias wearing army uniforms.

"They have been accused of voting for the opposition. Most of them are either on the roadside or sheltering at some farms.'' She said about 400 of the farm workers and their families were hiding in the nearby bush without access to food and medical attention. "We are trying to find ways of taking food to them,'' she tosaid.

Ms Hambira said violence against farm workers and their families, who are estimated to be 1.5 million, had escalated since the March 29 joint presidential and parliamentary elections. "This population represents what might be termed the swing vote between the traditional MDC strongholds in urban areas and the ZANU-PF strongholds in the rural areas,'' she said.

More 40,000 farm workers homeless | NEWS.com.au

waltky · 05-11-2008, 01:23 AM

Looks like he changed his mind...

Zimbabwe Opposition Leader to Take Part in Runoff Against Mugabe
10 May 2008 - Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai says he will take part in a presidential runoff against the incumbent, Robert Mugabe.

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Morgan Tsvangirai announced his decision Saturday in Pretoria, South Africa, saying he would return soon to his homeland to take part in the runoff. But he also laid out several conditions. He called for the cessation of all violence, the presence of South African Development Community (SADC) peacekeepers and access for international observers and media. He added that the runoff should take place no later than May 24, according to Zimbabwean electoral law.

Tsvangirai has been in South Africa since shortly after the election, during the five weeks it took for the Zimbabwe Election Commission to announce the presidential results. The leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) maintains he won an outright victory in Zimbabwe's March 29 presidential election. The electoral commission says, while he won the most votes, he fell short of a majority.

Many independent analysts and Zimbabwe lawyers accuse the Commission of being biased in favor of Mr. Mugabe and his party, ZANU-PF, which narrowly lost its parliamentary majority in the elections. Tsvangirai said in Pretoria, Saturday, that, instead of joy at the Movement For Democratic Change's victory, Zimbabweans had endured confusion, pain, death and despair as a result of what he said was a violent onslaught against the people by ZANU-PF.

More VOA News - Zimbabwe Opposition Leader to Take Part in Runoff Against Mugabe

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US calls for monitors in Zimbabwe
May 11, 2008 - THE White House has called for election and UN human rights monitors in Zimbabwe to ensure an end to violence against opposition leaders and their supporters in a presidential run-off.

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"If this is going to be a successful run-off, obviously that's the first thing that has to happen: opposition leaders and their supporters must be able to freely campaign free of violence," spokesman Gordon Johndroe said today. "We'd like to see election monitors come in, we'd like to see UN human rights monitors come in and ensure that we have a safe electoral process there," Mr Johndroe said as US President George W. Bush prepared here for one of his daughter's wedding on his Texas ranch.

He spoke after Zimbabwe's opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, said he would return home to face Robert Mugabe in a presidential runoff poll despite the risk of "more violence, more gloom, more betrayal".

Mr Tsvangirai had previously refused to say whether he would take part in the runoff - even though failure to do so would have handed victory to Mr Mugabe - amid evidence of a campaign of terror against his supporters. The former trade union leader, who beat veteran incumbent Mugabe in a first round of voting in March, set international peacekeepers, election monitors and an end to violence in the country as conditions for the ballot.

US calls for monitors in Zimbabwe | NEWS.com.au

waltky · 06-05-2008, 03:59 PM

Uh-oh, time to send the Marines in...

U.S., U.K. Diplomats Attacked in Zimbabwe
June 5, 2008 - Diplomats Are Released After Their Convoy Was Attacked by 'War Veterans'

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U.S. and British diplomats have now been released after their convoy was attacked in Zimbabwe and they were held for over five hours at a roadblock north of the capital. The attack took place 30 kilometers outside of the capital Harare. The diplomatic convoy was stopped by a mob of about 40 people, believed to comprise elements of Zimbabwe's military, police and the so-called "war vets" who are fiercely loyal to President Robert Mugabe.

Paul Engelstad, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy, says a U.S. Embassy staffer was beaten and tires of cars in the convoy were slashed. His was the only injury reported so far. "The war veterans threatened to burn the vehicles with my people inside unless they got out of the vehicles and accompanied the police to a station nearby," U.S. Ambassador James McGee, who was not in the convoy, told CNN.

U.S. State Department sources told ABC News that five Americans and two local employees of the embassy were held at the road block, along with the British diplomats. Among them were senior diplomats including the top security officer for the U.S. Embassy. The BBC reported that four British diplomats were involved in the incident.The British Foreign Office has summoned Zimbabwe's ambassador in London to explain the incident, the prime minister's spokesman said.

McGee, who was pressing Zimbabwean officials for his colleagues' release, told CNN that "we do believe this is coming directly from the top." McGee has clashed with Mugabe's regime in the past and has been threatened with expulsion. In mid-May, McGee had led a similar convoy that was stopped at a police roadblock. Police eventually let the convoy through, and a patrol car escorted them back to the U.S. Embassy.

More ABC News: U.S., U.K. Diplomats Attacked in Zimbabwe

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Aid Groups Suspended In Zimbabwe
Jun. 5, 2008 - Zimbabwe Orders Aid Groups To Stop Work

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Zimbabwe's social welfare minister says aid groups must stop field work in his country. In a memorandum sent to aid groups late Thursday, the minister, Nicholas Goche, said he had learned that aid groups were violating the terms of their agreement with the government. He did not elaborate in the brief statement.

The statement says all aid and development groups are ordered to "suspend all field operations until further notice."

Earlier this week, the aid organization CARE International said it had been ordered to halt operations pending an investigation of allegations it was campaigning for the opposition in the runup to a June 27 presidential runoff. CARE denies the allegation.

Aid Groups Suspended In Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Orders Aid Groups To Stop Work - CBS News

waltky · 06-22-2008, 06:58 PM

Opposition beaten, withdraws...

Mugabe's Supporters Armed With Clubs And Stones Disrupt Opposition Rally In Zimbabwe
June 22, 2008 - Hundreds of supporters from the Zimbabwe's ruling party have reportedly attacked and blockaded the site where the opposition leader is due to hold an election rally, the reports said.

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Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe will be facing the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who was detained on by the authorities, in the second presidential run-off on June 27. Pro-Mugabe youth militia were carrying sticks and knives and occupied a stadium in the capital city of Harare, which the venue for the rally.

"Thousands of ZANU PF youth militia armed with iron bars, sticks and other weapons have attacked journalists and forced election observer teams to flee from the venue," the MDC said in a statement released on Sunday. Witnesses said that ZANU-PF supporters started beating bystanders, stopped cars and harassed people outside Glamis stadium and threatened the crowds streaming to the event.

The rally was organized by the opposition leader after the High Court ruled on Saturday to allow the parties to campaign ahead of the election and ordered police not to block it. The threat to the rally followed the accusation the opposition that at least 70 members supporting the MDC party have been killed and several people were beaten in the run-up to presidential run-off election.

More Mugabe's Supporters Armed With Clubs And Stones Disrupt Opposition Rally In Zimbabwe | AHN | June 22, 2008

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Zimbabwe Opposition Leader Pulling out of Election
June 22, 2008 - Zimbabwe opposition leader pulling out of election, citing mounting violence, intimidation

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Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out of Zimbabwe's violence-wracked presidential runoff Sunday, declaring that the election was no longer credible and the loss of life among his supporters was simply too high. The announcement cleared the way for President Robert Mugabe to continue his 28-year rule, despite mounting condemnation from even loyal African allies that the former independence hero has become a despot who has bankrupted the country's once thriving economy.

"We can't ask the people to cast their vote on June 27 when that vote will cost their lives. We will no longer participate in this violent sham of an election," Tsvangirai said. He addressed a news conference in Zimbabwe's capital after thousands of militants loyal to Mugabe prevented opposition supporters from gathering for its main campaign rally. As night fell, militia groups roamed the capital and hotels sent their workers home early out of fear for the safety. Normally busy Sunday traders packed up early. Tsvangirai called on the United Nations, the European Union and the Southern African regional bloc to intervene.

He said he would put forward new proposals by Wednesday on how take the country forward. The opposition has repeatedly said it would welcome a government of "national healing" including ruling ZANU-PF party members but not Mugabe himself. Zimbabwean Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu said Friday's runoff would go ahead in accordance with the constitution — and to prove Zimbabweans' support for Mugabe, who has held power since independence from Britain in 1980. "The constitution does not say that if somebody drops out or decides to chicken out the runoff will not be held," Ndlovu said.

More ABC News: Zimbabwe Opposition Leader Pulling out of Election

waltky · 09-26-2008, 01:13 AM

While Mugabe dines high on the hog...

Zimbabwe children eating toxic roots, rats -agency
Thu Sep 25, 2008 - Children in Zimbabwe are eating rats and inedible roots riddled with toxic parasites to stave off hunger because of chronic food shortages, an aid agency said on Thursday.

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Save the Children said the most vulnerable faced starvation unless they get food aid in the next couple of weeks. "The rising malnutrition and the rise in diseases are going to mean that children will die and we have to act very fast," said Sarah Jacobs, a spokeswoman for the relief group. The United Nations had said previously that more than 5 million people in Zimbabwe would need food aid by early next year after a poor harvest compounded by economic turmoil.

Jacobs said many people in the Zambezi Valley, the poorest and driest area, were now surviving on a vile-tasting, fibrous root called makuri. "It's got no nutritional value whatsoever. It tastes disgusting and it also has a parasite which attaches to it which is toxic," said Jacobs, who has just returned from the region. "This is all they have to eat. You see babies eating it and toddlers eating it, and it's not digestible. It creates terrible stomach pains." People were eating anything to survive, she said. She had come across one child who had died after eating a poisonous root and young children eating tiny rats they caught in their huts.

Save the Children and other agencies are resuming work after Zimbabwe's government lifted a ban on their operations at the end of August. President Robert Mugabe imposed the ban before a run-off presidential election in June, accusing the agencies of supporting the opposition. But Save the Children said in reality many agencies had not been able to work in the field since the first election round in March.

The agency, which has launched a 5 million pound ($9.2 million) appeal for emergency operations in Zimbabwe, said the situation had got much worse in the past few months and that rampant inflation meant even people with jobs would need food aid. "People's ways of coping have been completely exhausted. People are saying they're scared they're going to die within weeks if food doesn't come," Jacobs said. "We really are playing catch up. It's a huge humanitarian job now and there has to be much more money than there has ever been before."

AIDS/HIV

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Zimbabwe's Mugabe urges West to lift sanctions
Thu Sep 25, 2008 - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe called on Thursday for lifting what he called "illegal" sanctions on his country as he railed against the United States, Britain and their allies for imposing them.

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Just days after reaching a power-sharing deal with his opposition rivals at home, Mugabe -- in a typically fiery speech at the United Nations -- accused Washington and London of being "perpetrators of genocide" for their role in the Iraq war. "What insanity is this that has afflicted some world leaders?" he asked, referring to earlier failed efforts to get the U.N. Security Council to slap sanctions on Zimbabwe.

Mugabe, who has governed since Zimbabwe's independence from Britain in 1980, spoke amid efforts at home to break a deadlock over the division of cabinet posts under the accord reached with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. "My party, ZANU-PF, will abide by the spirit and letter of the agreement to which we have appended our signature," he told the annual General Assembly gathering of world leaders.

Millions of Zimbabweans hope the new political arrangement will be the first step toward rescuing a nation shattered by economic collapse. But Washington has warned that it has a new batch of sanctions ready if Mugabe reneges on his promises. Mugabe, 84, one of Africa's most stridently anti-Western leaders, used his address for a blistering attack on his international foes, saying their sanctions had contributed to the "untold suffering" of his people.

More Zimbabwe's Mugabe urges West to lift sanctions | International | Reuters