South Africa Faces Power Vacuum After ANC Forces Mbeki to Quit
Saturday, September 20, 2008, 07:01 PM - Africa
South Africa faces a power vacuum, after the ruling African National Congress forced President Thabo Mbeki to resign and his deputy said she would follow suit.
ANC leader Jacob Zuma is president-in-waiting, with the ANC having nominated him to succeed Mbeki. He can't take up the post until elections, due next year, are held because he isn't a lawmaker. A caretaker president is set to be appointed by parliament this week, with Baleka Mbete, the speaker of legislature and ANC chairwoman, the frontrunner for the post.
Zuma, 66, ousted Mbeki as party leader in December, with the support of South Africa's biggest labor unions and the Communist Party, which believe he will back their demands for increased spending on social programs. Zuma has pledged to improve the health and education systems and to do more to fight crime. He also has ruled out wholesale changes to Mbeki's economic policies.
``The critical question for the economy is whether there will be policy continuity,'' Goolam Ballim, chief economist at Standard Bank Group Ltd., Africa's biggest bank, said in an interview from Johannesburg late yesterday. ``The day-to-day governing of South Africa could enter a stage of inertia which would have an immediate impact on financial markets.' - See South Africa Faces Power Vacuum After ANC Forces Mbeki to Quit for the full report.
add comment US and EU keep Zimbabwe sanctions
Monday, September 15, 2008, 06:55 PM - Africa
EU foreign ministers said the measures would continue until the new government took steps to restore democracy.
Robert Mugabe said he was committed to national unity and would do "his best".
His rival Morgan Tsvangirai, the new prime minister, said the agreement provided the best hope for Zimbabwe and called for its full implementation.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said a decision on lifting sanctions on Zimbabwean officials had been postponed until October.
Diagram of Zimbabwe's power-sharing deal
The International Monetary Fund, which suspended financial and technical assistance in 2006, said it stood ready for talks with the new government about stabilising the economy.
But it added that Harare would have to take clear steps to resolve the economic crisis in a country where inflation stands at more than 11,000,000%.
'Painful compromises'
In a statement, the 27 EU ministers said they would watch for the agreement's implementation, especially the "immediate cessation of all forms of intimidation and violence".
UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Zimbabwe's new administration would have to make significant progress before the lifting of sanctions was considered.
Meanwhile, a senior US diplomat told the BBC that Washington wanted to help Zimbabwe, but would need to see proof that Mr Mugabe had relinquished some genuine power to Mr Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). - See US and EU keep Zimbabwe sanctions for the full report.
Peace Deal Reached in Zimbabwe
Thursday, September 11, 2008, 01:52 PM - Africa
Zimbabwe’s opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai emerged from power-sharing talks with President Robert Mugabe Thursday evening to declare that the two men had finally struck a deal after more than a month of bitter haggling.
The nation, crippled by almost unfathomable inflation and battered by a violent election season marked by attacks on opposition supporters, has been in a state of political limbo since Mr. Mugabe held onto the presidency in a June runoff that has widely been denounced as a sham.
The power-sharing talks have aimed to resolve the political crisis, but Mr. Tsvangirai offered no immediate details about how they settled the issue that has bedeviled them: Mr. Mugabe’s refusal to share the supreme authority he has wielded over the southern African nation for the past 28 years.
Both men have been playing chicken, with Mr. Mugabe threatening to go ahead and appoint a cabinet of ministers unilaterally and Mr. Tsvangirai saying he’d prefer no deal to a bad deal. President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, the mediator in the conflict whose own reputation as a peacemaker has become entwined with the violent, intractable conflict in Zimbabwe, spent the past three days making a last-ditch push for a settlement at a hotel in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital. - See Peace Deal Reached in Zimbabwe
Death of al-Qaida Leader in Somalia Could Affect Peace Process
Thursday, May 1, 2008, 05:09 PM - Africa
The United States is calling the death of Aden Hashi Ayro in Somalia a victory against terrorism. But will it have an effect on the fighting in Somalia between forces of the Transitional Federal Government and various militias and armed groups, including the Shebab Islamist militia?
Matt Bryden is an independent analyst and expert on Somalia. From New York, he spoke to VOA English to Africa Service reporter Joe De Capua about the death of one of al-Qaida’s top leaders in east Africa.
“First of all, it’s an important success for the US and their allies in Somalia. Ayro was a key and recognized leader of the Shebab, al-Qaida’s affiliate in Somalia. And as an individual, he was certainly one of those who had close links to the members of al-Qaida known to be in Somalia. And it shows that the efforts of the US, and presumably others – the Somali partners and possibly Ethiopians on the ground – are paying off. That they do have actionable intelligence on the Shebab and are able to conduct a strike like this. So, it shows the vulnerabilities of the Shebab leadership. And symbolically because Ayro was a known and visible figure, it’s a very important development,” he says.
As for the effect Ayro’s death may have on peace efforts and a possible government of national unity, Bryden says, “I think generally this is going to be viewed as a positive development. Ayro was seen as a problem, not only because of his links to al-Qaida and his membership in the Shebab per se, but because the Shebab and he personally have been seen as an obstacle to stability in parts of Somalia. He was most active in Central Somalia and also very much opposed to any dialogue between the Transitional Federal Government and the mainstream opposition, the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia. He and the Shebab are potential spoilers, certainly would like to be. And I think this will help to create a little more confidence in the process and clear one of the potential obstacles,” he says. - See Death of al-Qaida Leader in Somalia Could Affect Peace Process for the full report.
Babies seized by Robert Mugabe's forces as Zimbabwe hounds voters
Saturday, April 26, 2008, 04:51 PM - Africa
Scores of children and babies have been locked up in filthy prison cells in Harare as Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s president, sinks to new depths in his campaign to force the opposition into exile before an expected run-off in presidential elections.
Twenty-four babies and 40 children under the age of six were among the 250 people rounded up in a raid on Friday, according to Nelson Chamisa, spokesman for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Yesterday they were crammed into cells in Southerton police station in central Harare.
“This is ruthlessness of the worst kind. How can you incarcerate children whose mothers have fled their homes hoping to give their children refuge?” asked an emotional Chamisa yesterday. “In Mugabe’s Zimbabwe even children are not spared the terror that befalls their parents.”
The families were rounded up from MDC headquarters, where they had sought refuge from violence in the countryside.
Thought to be directed by top military officers, Operation Where Did You Put Your Cross? has prompted thousands to flee. They are trying to escape the so-called war veterans, who are attacking people and burning down hundreds of houses for voting “incorrectly” in last month’s elections.
“What we’re seeing is an undeclared civil war,” said Chamisa. “It’s genocide. This situation is out of control, it’s now beyond the capacity of the MDC alone. It requires the region, the continent, the international community to act.” - See Babies seized by Robert Mugabe's forces as Zimbabwe hounds voters for the complete report.
Mugabe Isolated In Southern Africa As Arms Ship Barred From Ports
Tuesday, April 22, 2008, 07:42 PM - Africa
A Chinese ship carrying arms for Zimbabwe has also become freighted in recent days with diplomatic significance as the vessel has sought accommodation and offloading in subsequent Southern African countries, emphasizing Harare's increasing isolation.
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa urged African states Tuesday to bar the An Yue Jiang from their waters, saying unloading and transporting of its cargo of weapons to Zimbabwe could deepen the crisis there following elections in late March.
South African dockworkers refused to unload the ship, said to carry 3 million rounds of AK-47 ammunition, 1,500 rocket-propelled grenades and 2,500 mortar shells. Angolan and Mozambican officials subsequently signaled it is unwelcome in their ports.
The United States has stepped up diplomatic pressure to keep the weapons from getting to Harare. State Department Spokesman Tom Casey said Washington asked China not to ship further arms and "if possible, to bring this one back” to China.
Washington was expected to dispatch Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Fraser to encourage regional leaders not to let the ship dock and to urge the Southern African Development Community to increase pressure on Harare to release the results of the presidential election held more than three weeks ago on March 29. - See Mugabe Isolated In Southern Africa As Arms Ship Barred From Ports for the complete report.
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