Prayer for Zimbabwe

[Roelof]

Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said in interviews published on Sunday he would push for negotiations with President Robert Mugabe on a new constitution and fresh elections.

He also kept open the possibility that Mugabe could remain as a ceremonial head of state.
Speaking ahead of the expected announcement that Mugabe had won re-election in Friday's run-off vote in which he was the only candidate, Tsvangirai said his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party would use its parliamentary majority, which it won in elections in March, to force negotiations over a transitional arrangement.

http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/...348892,00.html

[Roelof]

Robert Mugabe's declared victory in Zimbabwe's one-man presidential run-off election is "an absolute joke", the opposition Movement for Democratic Change said on Sunday.

"This is an unbelievable joke and act of desperation on the part of the regime," the MDC's chief spokesperson Nelson Chamisa told AFP. "It qualifies for the Guiness Book of Records as joke of the year."


Tsvangirai beat Mugabe into second place in the first round of the election three months ago but pulled out of the run-off last weekend after a spate of deadly attacks on his supporters.
"How can they say that Mr Tsvangirai got those votes when he was nothing to do with the run-off in the first place?" added Chamisa. "How does Mugabe's jump from 43% in the first elections to 85% in the second. What has he done to remedy the ills that he has inflicted on the people of Zimbabwe?"

http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/...349008,00.html

[Roelof]

Please pray for a negotiated peace settlement

Fellow African leaders showed little willingness on Sunday to stand up to President Robert Mugabe and condemn the longtime Zimbabwe ruler's disputed, violent reign ahead of his arrival at an African Union summit.

Despite international calls to isolate Mugabe, the AU readied to welcome him as a legitimate head of state.
"It will be none of this summit's business to choose the titles for leaders, it is the business of this summit to see what we are going to do for the suffering people and masses in Africa," Tanzanian Foreign Minister Bernard Membe remarked when asked if he would address Mugabe as president. Mugabe was inaugurated on Sunday after declaring victory in a presidential run-off election from which the opposition dropped out, citing violence against its supporters.

http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/...349253,00.html

[Roelof]

Robert Mugabe faced mounting criticism on Monday after beginning a new term as Zimbabwe's president, with African observers and much of the world denouncing his one-man election as violence-wracked.

Mugabe took the oath of office on Sunday in a hastily arranged ceremony at his official residence barely an hour after the electoral commission declared he won more than 85% of the votes cast. The 84-year-old leader used his inauguration speech to appeal for "unity" among Zimbabwe's political parties - an overture the opposition greeted with deep suspicion.

http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/...349304,00.html

[Roelof]

The Zimbabwean presidential run-off election was not free and fair, said the SA Council of Churches (SACC) on Monday.

"The run-off elections in which Robert Mugabe ran alone were neither free, nor fair, therefore this presidency is illegitimate," said Eddie Makue, SACC general secretary. The council said it had forwarded a dossier of alleged atrocities committed against Zimbabweans in the run-up to the Zimbabwe run-off elections to President Thabo Mbeki.

http://www.news24.com/News24/South_A...349666,00.html

[moonglow]

This is getting more and more news coverage here too..a big article on my homepage today and being covered daily by the major networks too.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa...day/index.html
Africa under pressure to condemn Mugabe
The United States and Britain have led international condemnation against Zimbabwe: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wants international action against Mugabe's government, including U.N.-authorized sanctions.

The United States is working with other countries on a draft resolution regarding Zimbabwe that it will propose to the U.N. Security Council when it addresses the issue on Wednesday, U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said.

He restated Washington's condemnation of the "sham" election process, and urged the AU to do the same. Casey said the United States wants Mugabe's government to enter into talks with the opposition, under the mediation of African leaders.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown voiced doubts that anyone would recognize Mugabe's re-election.

"I think the message that is coming from the whole of the world is that the so-called election will not be recognized as legitimate," Brown said Monday.

They need to physically remove him as far I am I concerned and lock him up for the crimes he has committed!

[Roelof]

moonglow

Thanks for the article.
Please continue to pray for Zim, if Zim collapse it would have a major effect on SA too.

[Roelof]

Robert Mugabe's holding of a one-man election has killed off any prospect of a negotiated political settlement in Zimbabwe, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change's number two leader said on Tuesday.
"While the MDC has pursued dialogue in a bid to establish a government of national healing before June 12, the sham election on June 27, 2008, totally and completely exterminated any prospect of a negotiated settlement," the party's secretary-general Tendai Biti and chief negotiator said.

http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/...350193,00.html

[Roelof]

New York - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and the country's central bank governor are among those who, under a US-drafted resolution, would face UN asset freezes and travel bans over last week's widely criticised election.
According to an annex to the latest version of the draft, obtained by Reuters on Wednesday, Mugabe is among 12 people who would face UN sanctions because he is the "Head of Government responsible for activities that seriously undermine democracy, repress human rights and disrespect the rule of law". Central Bank Governor Gideon Gono would also face sanctions because he is "responsible for funding repressive state policies", the text says.
http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/...350925,00.html

[Roelof]

My couintry SA makes me feel so shameful. I still pray for peace and a new government.

New York - South Africa suggested on Thursday that it would not back a US draft that seeks to impose sanctions on Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and 11 of his aides.
This comes after the United States said it expects the UN Security Council to vote next week on sanctions against Zimbabwe's leaders for last week's widely criticised election. US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters after a closed-door council session that he had formally submitted the US-drafted resolution to the full 15-nation council.

http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/...351762,00.html

[Roelof]

Nigeria on Friday rejected the re-election of Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, saying a run-off vote had changed nothing in the country, but stopped short of refusing to recognise his government.
Foreign Minister Ojo Maduekwe said Mugabe should not use the outcome of a June 27 run-off vote, boycotted by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, as a basis for negotiation.

http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/...352352,00.html

[Roelof]

Secret footage filmed by a Zimbabwean prison guard shows how a supporter of President Robert Mugabe rigged votes in his favour, British newspaper The Guardian said.

The hidden camera images apparently show one of Mugabe's so-called war veterans - with the power to denounce prison workers as opposition supporters - supervising their votes, logging each one against the voter's identification number and watching as they mark the ballots. "It is believed to be the first footage of actual ballot-rigging," The Guardian said.

http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/...352598,00.html

[Roelof]

Please still pray for Zim. The inflation is now 8 million %

Thabo Mbeki, the chief mediator on the crisis in Zimbabwe, on Saturday held his first talks with Robert Mugabe since his controversial re-election, but was snubbed by the main opposition leader.

Mbeki hoped for swift progress on a negotiated settlement but his optimism was undermined by the failure of Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, to attend the talks. Mbeki had a brief meeting with Mugabe before they were then joined by Arthur Mutambara, head of an MDC splinter group, in a move which will fuel speculation Mugabe is trying to cling to power by driving a wedge between the opposition.

http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/...352799,00.html

[Roelof]

Please keep on praying

Dozens of teenage girls have been made pregnant after being taken into the bush and raped in torture camps by President Robert Mugabe’s youth militia operating near Mudzi, a town 100 miles northeast of Harare, human rights workers allege.

Amid the continuing chaos, there are as yet no clear statistics, but the sharp rise in teenage pregnancies seems almost certain to have been repeated elsewhere in rural districts. Some of the victims will have contracted HIV-Aids, which has ravaged Zimbabwe for years and helped reduce average life expectancy to 34 for women, the lowest in the world.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle4276294.ece

[moonglow]

Please keep on praying

Dozens of teenage girls have been made pregnant after being taken into the bush and raped in torture camps by President Robert Mugabe’s youth militia operating near Mudzi, a town 100 miles northeast of Harare, human rights workers allege.

Amid the continuing chaos, there are as yet no clear statistics, but the sharp rise in teenage pregnancies seems almost certain to have been repeated elsewhere in rural districts. Some of the victims will have contracted HIV-Aids, which has ravaged Zimbabwe for years and helped reduce average life expectancy to 34 for women, the lowest in the world.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle4276294.ece

oh no....how awful...I will be sure to pray for them on this too.

God Bless