Prayer for Zimbabwe

[Roelof]

I am still praying for a peaceful transition.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe will never vacate his office for opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai even if he loses a run-off election next month, his wife said on Thursday.

Grace Mugabe told followers of her husband's Zanu-PF party that Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) would not be allowed to take power under any circumstances. "Even if people vote for the MDC, Morgan Tsvangirai will never step foot inside State House," she said after meeting victims of political violence that has rocked Zimbabwe since the first round of voting on March 29.

http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/...331588,00.html

[moonglow]

Boy that is just terrible...he is nothing but a terrorist dictator for sure... I hope the UN can do something with him...

Still praying!


God bless

[Roelof]

It appears that Mugabe blames every-one else for his defeat. Please pray for peaceful run-off elections at the end of June 2008.

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe accused Britain on Tuesday of fomenting Western efforts to effect "illegal regime change" in his country by crippling it economically.
"The United Kingdom has mobilised their friends and allies in Europe, north America, Australia and New Zealand to impose illegal economic sanctions against Zimbabwe," he said.

http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/...334047,00.html

[Roelof]

Shortages of bread in Zimbabwe are expected to worsen after preparations for the country's winter wheat crop failed, says state media.
As President Robert Mugabe flew to Rome for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) summit on food security, the state-controlled daily Herald said that farmers planted 8 963 hectares of wheat this winter, only 13% of a government target of 70 000 ha.

http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/...333311,00.html

[Roelof]

Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has been detained by police for several hours at a roadblock while campaigning in the country's run-off presidential vote, says his Movement for Democratic Change.

"We are currently held up. They are saying there's a commanding officer whom we should wait for. They are not saying why they are holding us up. It's not an arrest but illegal detention. It appears they want to disrupt our campaign programme," Tsvangirai's spokesperson George Sibotshiwe said. Tsvangirai had been detained since 10:00. Police searched all vehicles and inspected documents, the MDC said. http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/...334764,00.html

[Roelof]

The country is ruined, now they stopped some charity

Zimbabwe has ordered aid groups Save the Children UK, Care International and Adra to stop work in the country immediately, says the director of a national NGO association.
The government had sent letters to the groups issuing the orders, said Cephas Zinhumwe, chief executive of the National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations.

http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/...334711,00.html

[Roelof]

This is real bad news. Please pray.

Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and several of his top lieutenants were detained by police on Wednesday in the approach to a key run-off presidential election on June 27, his party said.

"He has been taken into a charge office in Lupane," southwestern Zimbabwe, chief Movement for Democratic Change spokesperson Nelson Chamisa told AFP.
"It's the whole entourage of the president, including his security personnel and other senior party officials."
Others arrested included the party's deputy leader Thokozani Khupe and MDC chair Lovemore Moyo. "They have not given us any reason for the arrest," added Chamisa.

http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/...334838,00.html

[Roelof]

The police and military exercise a firm grip on the country before the run-off presidential elections.

An opposition party official says police have released the Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

Tsvangirai spokesperson George Sibotshiwe says Tsvangirai and a group of about 14 officials from the MDC were released after being held for eight hours at a police station in Lupane, north of the city of Bulawayo. No charges have been filed.

http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/...335002,00.html

[Roelof]

The situation is becoming very serious now, I am still praying.

Two US diplomatic vehicles and one from Britain were attacked in Zimbabwe and the diplomats detained on Thursday, US ambassador James McGee told CNN.

"My people were stopped, detained," McGee, US ambassador to Zimbabwe, said by telephone from Harare.
"The police put up a roadblock, stopped the vehicles, slashed the tires, reached in and grabbed the telephones from my personnel.
"And 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," he said. McGee said any dispute with the diplomats should have been taken up with the ministry of foreign affairs.

http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/...335642,00.html

[Roelof]

Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga described President Robert Mugabe as a dictator on Thursday in one of the harshest attacks on the Zimbabwean ruler by another African leader.
"I have advised Morgan Tsvangirai to accept to participate in the run-off, which has been called because dictators know no boundaries," Odinga told a news conference at the World Economic Forum for Africa in Cape Town.

http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/...335591,00.html

[Roelof]

Morgan Tsvangirai, the Zimbabwean opposition leader hoping to displace Robert Mugabe, has been detained by police again today while attempting to campaign for this month's presidential run-off vote.
Mr Tsvangirai and his campaign convoy were stopped at a roadblock and ordered to proceed to a police station in the town of Esigodini, near Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city. Reporters with the convoy said that police told him his planned rallies in the area were illegal.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle4079890.ece

[Befaithful]

[Roelof]

Thanks for you prayers.

An unstable Zim has a very bad effect on SA as well.

[Roelof]

Zimbabwe has imposed an import duty on the foreign press following concerns by President Robert Mugabe's government over "hostile foreign newspapers coming into Zimbabwe", state media said on Saturday.

"Foreign newspapers sold in Zimbabwe will now have to pay an import duty as the government moves to protect the Zimbabwean media space," the state-controlled Herald newspaper said. Citing new regulations published in an extraordinary government gazette, the paper said foreign publications including newspapers, journals, magazines and periodicals were now classed as luxury goods and would attract import duty at 40% of the total cost per kilogram.

http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/...336558,00.html

[Roelof]

As the presidential election run-off looms, a sinister former spy chief is using every weapon to ensure his master wins

As Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace flaunted their presence in Rome last week - he as a controversial guest at a United Nations food summit defending the brutal rule that has left Zimbabwe bleeding and impoverished, she closeted in a luxury hotel - a powerful group of military and security chiefs masterminding the president’s election battle was leaving nothing to chance.
Led by Emmerson Mnangagwa, a sinister former spymaster known as “the Crocodile” who recently took control of the ruthless Joint Operations Command that now effectively runs the country, a violent crackdown was stepped up against the opposition and the voters who had the temerity to support it.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle4087308.ece