Free Republic

ZIMBABWE’S main opposition party said yesterday that it will boycott all elections until the government reforms unfair electoral laws, ends political violence and repeals repressive media and security laws.The decision by the Movement for Democratic Change comes well ahead of key parliamentary elections in March. The country’s president, Robert Mugabe, is seeking to consolidate his hold on power after narrowly winning re- election in a 2002 vote that observers said was marred by intimidation and vote-rigging. In June the government promised electoral reforms that it said would bring Zimbabwe in line with regional standards, but the opposition dismissed them as...

South African police arrested Mark Thatcher, the son of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, early Wednesday on allegations he was involved in a plot to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea, police said.Police spokesman Sipho Ngwema said Thatcher was arrested at his Cape Town home and is expected to be charged with violation of the foreign military assistance act. "We have evidence, credible evidence, and information that he was involved in the attempted coup," said Ngwema. "We refuse that South Africa be a springboard for coups in Africa and elsewhere." Eight South Africans, six Armenians and four Equato-Guineans are...

THEY were known as South Africa’s "Bonnie and Clyde" after a 17-day killing and robbing spree in 1983.She, the then beautiful 19-year-old blonde Charmaine Phillips, testified that she killed one of her robbery victims, who had been tied to a tree, simply because she was irritated by her "babbling on". In court she was like a wildcat, hissing and clawing at anyone who came near her. When a photographer walked close to the dock to speak to her, she leant forward as though to whisper in his ear, but suddenly pursed her lips and spat directly in his face. She...

ZIMBABWEAN authorities want to ban foreign human rights organisations and to restrict local charities in an intensification of President Robert Mugabe’s campaign against “foreign meddling”.The government has published a proposed law that would require foreign non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to apply for a licence. Groups whose “sole or principal objects involve or include issues of governance” — seen as “the promotion and protection of human rights and political governance issues” — would not get a licence. Local groups would be banned from receiving foreign funds to finance work in such areas. The charitable activities of churches would require government approval, although...

One of the less discussed stories of the present Olympic Games is the performance of Kirsty Coventry, a swimmer from Zimbabwe. As of today, August 18, 2004, she has won two Olympic medals: a silver in the 100 metres backstroke and a bronze in the 200 metres individual medley. She has done this in spite of suffering from a physical handicap: she has asthma, and as such, has to undergo rigorous tests by Olympic officials to ensure that she is entitled to take her medication. Her success came as a surprise to me, though probably not to her friends and...

“THERE is an operation on Wednesday,” said Tawanda, a Zimbabwean border-jumper, raising his voice above the din around the minibus rank next to the railway station.“When it comes, you run and run. You have to be like a soldier in enemy country. You may be captured at any time.” Sure enough, at dawn hundreds of armed soldiers and police descended on Francistown. They set up roadblocks all over and banged on doors, mostly in the poorer quarters of Botswana’s second-largest town on the edge of the Kalahari Desert. For the next three days they demanded identification and listened for tongues...

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) - Sudan's foreign minister called the United Nations Security Council's 30-day deadline for action on Darfur "illogical," saying Sunday the country instead would implement a 90-day program agreed to earlier with Secretary General Kofi Annan. Friday's Security Council resolution gave Sudan 30 days to disarm Arab militias blamed for the deaths of thousands of black Africans in the vast western Darfur region or face diplomatic and economic penalties. Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said after a cabinet meeting that the resolution was illogical but had some positive aspects, such as calling for international aid to the region....

The Zimbabwean government has drawn up legislation to curtail the activities of charities, church groups and other non-governmental organisations. Announcing the draft legislation, President Robert Mugabe said non-governmental organisations "must work for the betterment of our country and not against it ... We cannot allow them to be conduits or instruments of foreign interference in our national affairs." Civic leaders have denounced the bill, expected to be tabled in parliament within weeks, as an attempt to strangle all independent, critical voices in Zimbabwe in the run-up to parliamentary elections in March next year. The bill would make it difficult for...

Zim rights groups face closure 23/07/2004 12:35 - (SA) Print article email story Related Articles Zim weekly still banned US warns of Zim food shortage Zim: Free elections 'possible' Mugabe declares Zim 'revival' Harare - President Robert Mugabe's government plans to ban international human rights groups from Zimbabwe and cut off overseas funding to local organisations promoting rights, according to a draft bill obtained on Friday. The bill would also set up a council whose members would be appointed by Zimbabwe's social welfare minister to oversee the activities of foreign and local aid groups. "No foreign non-governmental organisation shall be...

BULAWAYO - Steam locomotives are usually synonymous with a bygone era of glory and journeying in style. But a far less glamorous development may resurrect the rattling of these iron engines on tracks across Zimbabwe. Fast-depleting coffers have forced the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) to seriously examine reintroducing steam engines, making the country one of the world's last bastions to still rely on this century-old technology. Assistance from the Chinese government may make it possible to turn coal-fired engines into the locomotive of choice for the NRZ. A delegation visited Bulawayo in mid-July to tour railway facilities. When questioned,...

HARARE - The World Food Programme (WFP) has asked the Zambian government to put aside a reserve of 100 000 tonnes of maize to be bought by the WFP for Zimbabwe if need be. Zim Online has established that despite repeated claims by President Robert Mugabe and his government that their country had a bumper harvest, the WFP has resolved to proceed with efforts to provide aid to assist Zimbabweans who will face starvation. The United Nations recently said that 2.5 million Zimbabweans will require food aid. An WFP agent last week held talks with Zambia's Ministry of Agriculture requesting...

HARARE - Barely two weeks after President Robert Mugabe's call on his party's youths to crack down on the opposition, Zanu PF youth militias have begun a massive anti-Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) campaign in Harare's high density suburbs of Mbare, Highfield, Mabvuku and Tafara. The youths, through the notorious Mbare-based vigilante group known as Chipangano has revived bases in these politically turbulent suburbs and are force-marching other unemployed youths to register for training at the national youth training centres. The youths have been attacking MDC officials in the suburbs. One MDC official in Mbare, Sydney Mutukwa, was kidnapped and...

BULAWAYO - Four provincial governors have written to the government asking it to authorize non-governmental rganizations to resume feeding programmes and avert mass starvation. But Paul Mangwana, the minister of public service, labour and social welfare, has not responded to the letters, some written a month ago, despite mounting starvation in rural and urban areas, government sources said yesterday. According to the government's new policy on food aid, donor agencies can only operate in specific areas upon receiving authorisation letters from the ministry of public service, labour and social welfare.The ministry acts on recommendations from provincial governors. The governors of...

BRITAIN stands ready to send 5,000 troops to Sudan, the head of the Army said yesterday in a sign that a deployment to the war-torn African country is under active consideration. General Sir Mike Jackson, the Chief of General Staff, said that the Army would be ready if called upon despite its commitments in Iraq, the Balkans and Afghanistan. In the light of Tony Blair’s insistence on Thursday that Britain had a “moral responsibility to act” to prevent a humanitarian disaster in Sudan, Sir Mike said that a brigade of 5,000 soldiers could be ready and fully equipped if the...

BEIJING, July 20 (Xinhuanet) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao met visiting Namibian President Sam Nujoma here Tuesday. Both leaders vowed to strengthen cooperation in various fields between the two countries. Hu said China is willing to expand bilateral economic cooperation and the Chinese government encourages Chinese businesses to invest in Namibia. China and Namibia established diplomatic relations in 1990. Thetrade volume between the two countries reached 74.57 million US dollars last year, up 52 percent compared with 2002. Nujoma said Namibia will improve the domestic investment environment to attract more Chinese investment, especially in highvalue-added industries and tourism. Hu said...

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe -- Giant bags of cornmeal, labeled "USA" for the country that donated them, sit stacked 40 high in a U.N. warehouse on the outskirts of this city. Together with the cooking oil, beans and high-protein meal for porridge also stored here, there is enough to feed hundreds of thousands of people. But there is no plan to do so. President Robert Mugabe, the only ruler Zimbabwe has had in the 24 years since the end of white rule, has announced that a bumper harvest will produce more than enough food for the country this year, for the first...

Yeah, well if they suck that bad make your own! There once was a man named Kerry Whose voting record was very scary He flips and he flops, while his poll numbers drop and his positions seem contrary There once was a Democrat named John who of waffles he was very fond over and over he served them up while for some odd reason his followers ate them up until they evetually caught on Part 1: The Fairy There once was a fairy named Leon who asked a paticular John what is your wish I'll serve up a dish and...

Dear Fellow FReepers,   As many of you may know, an Ethics Complaint has been filed against Rep. Carolyn Maloney for signing the now-infamous letter to the U.N.  You can view the complaint here.  Of course, the complaint has been redacted for anonymity.     However, in order for the complaint to be considered by the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, a member of the House must sign off on the complaint.  An effort to get this “certification” is already under way, but we need your help.  You can help by sending – over the ‘net and for...

RECENTLY COLIN Powell, the U.S. Secretary of State, and Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General, visited Darfur in Sudan, Africa. Their visits were prompted by continuing horrors of ethnic cleansing of Darfurians by Janjaweed militia, backed by Sudan's military government. Powell and Annan hoped to raise the profile of an unfolding tragedy 10 years after the Rwandan genocide that the world watched and responded to with mere homilies. But ethnic rape, pillage and slaughter of Darfurians have been occurring for some time in the full knowledge of international bodies, such as the UN High Commission for Human Rights (UNHCHR). Since early...

Dear Family and Friends, On Thursday morning it was bitterly cold in Marondera. Through thick mist and an icy wind, a friend and I went visiting in a high density suburb just behind Marondera town. In two long, thin buildings that face each other and had once been pink but were now dirty brown, there were twenty four doors, and we stood outside one waiting to go in. I looked around, not so that I could soak in the sight but to force my brain to accept what my eyes would not believe. There was one leaking tap in a...