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Archived News 17th September 2002 State allegedly tricks UN famine envoy Zanu PF youths accused of attacking MDC candidates at nomination court Zimbabwe opposition sues government over election White farmer in gun skirmish Commercial farmers win latest round against evictions Zimbabwe set to renew Libya fuel contract Mudzuri summoned Govt owed $100 billion by DRC S.Africa's Mbeki wants to discuss Zimbabwe at U.N. Gaddafi comes to Mugabe's rescue again Maputo detains Zimbabwe wheat Zimbabwe farmer comes under fire, horse burnt alive Environmental disaster Libya ups demands Mugabe 'thugs' kidnap election candidates Tongogara's brother held hostage in Shurugwi Maize stocks critical UN complains over impounded goods New laws to aid Mugabe's land grab Judge arrested in Harare police raid Zimbabwe leaves key diamond center Nigeria meeting for Zimbabwe troika Truth gets out Ailing ex-judge in the dock Zim judge gets sent back to detention Zim police arrest journalist More Zim farmers arrested Focus on links with Libya All eyes on vital Nepad meeting Government mulls laws to deal with opposition MPs Zimbabwe takes revenge on judge Zim govt's weekend crackdown on critics Gaddafi scores big in Zim oil deal Zimbabwe expels foreign journalist PM may face Mugabe Going forward, albeit slowly Get going, Zim tells Mugabe in new poll Survey shows more people voted for MDC State surrenders impounded food Zimbabwe judge released on bail White farmer guilty of murder Violence flares ahead of polls Hunger spreading faster than expected ­ UN Top From The Daily News, 10 September State allegedly tricks UN famine envoy From Chris Gande in Bulawayo Members of the World Food Programme (WFP) and World Vision Zimbabwe were on Saturday shocked to find stacks of maize next to where they were meant to distribute food aid to starving villagers at Hwali in Gwanda District. Villagers, who last bought maize from the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) in June, woke up on Saturday to find six trucks full of maize next to free food aid provided by the WFP. Villagers said the idea appeared to be to create the impression to a United Nations delegation led by James Morris, the UN’s special envoy on famine who visited the area, that the government was managing the famine. "We were surprised when they told us that maize was going to be available at the same time that World Vision was distributing its food. We suspect that this is not a genuine effort because where was the government all along until today?" said James Ndlovu, a villager. The trick appeared to have worked because Morris, after touring the area commended the government for its effort in trying to alleviate the food situation. The GMB maize was being sold while the World Vision food was being handed out free to villagers considered eligible after several economic factors had been considered. Morris and his delegation were in Zimbabwe to assess the food situation as part of their tour of six southern African countries facing starvation. He left Zimbabwe on Saturday for Zambia where he is expected to make a similar assessment. At Hwali, more than 100km south of Gwanda, 4 300 beneficiaries, screened by World Vision Zimbabwe, the implementing partner, each received 13,8kg of maize-meal, 1,8kg of beans and one 750 millilitre bottle of cooking oil. "We are here to better understand the story of the human tragedy that has befallen the southern African region. I was encouraged that most of the people are optimistic about the future," said Morris. He said he was touched by the case of a 12-year-old girl who was weak because of hunger but was looking after a family of 15 brothers and sisters. Joseph Ndlovu, a villager from the community said the situation was desperate as livestock succumbed to the drought. He said people were surviving on boiled vegetables from a nearby irrigation scheme. Some villagers said they were now depending on gold panning to raise money to buy food. Soneni Dube, the headmaster of Hwali secondary school said schools were seriously affected by the drought as both teachers and students had no food. Top From The Daily News, 10 September Zanu PF youths accused of attacking MDC candidates at nomination court From our correspondents in Masvingo and Mutare Two Movement for Democratic Change candidates for the forthcoming rural district council were seriously injured after political violence erupted in Zaka West soon after the nomination court disqualified fourteen MDC candidates last Thursday. Michael Chitsama and Johannes Chongore were severely assaulted by suspected Zanu PF youths while they were waiting for transport to take them home soon after the nomination court. Chitsama was allegedly robbed of $20 000 meant for a number of MDC candidates in the area. The two were attacked by suspected Zanu PF youths who were armed with sticks and iron bars chanting anti-MDC slogans. However 14 MDC candidates were disqualified at the nomination court after they were allegedly misled by officials from the registrar-general’s office to bring wrong birth certificates. Police in Zaka yesterday confirmed the incident but refused to give details. In Manicaland, 63 MDC candidates withdrew from the rural district council elections alleging intimidation and assaults by Zanu PF activists. Fourteen others were arrested in unclear circumstances. A police officer in Nyanga said some of the candidates were on the run before they were picked up. As a result, 26 of the 31 candidates in Nyanga pulled out of the race. Out of the 214 candidates, only 151 successfully submitted their papers at the nomination court. The remainder withdrew because of fears of violence, says Pishai Muchauraya, MDC’s provincial spokesman. But Munacho Mutezo, the Zanu PF secretary for administration in Manicaland, disagreed with Muchauraya’s views. He said: "The MDC has lost ground and support. They should stop looking for excuses because the game is over for them." The elections are scheduled for 28 and 29 September. Top From VOA News, 10 September Zimbabwe opposition sues government over election The main opposition party in Zimbabwe is taking the government to court after officials disqualified about half of the opposition candidates in upcoming local elections. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change says 639 of its candidates were declared ineligible to run for office for a variety of reasons, most of them false. The group accuses the government of illegally rejecting documentation and changing the times and locations of nomination courts with little or no notice. The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says that in some cases, its candidates were scared away from the registration courts by threats of violence. The government says the opposition failed to nominate candidates in many areas. The voting at the end of September would have been the first local government elections for the MDC since it was formed three years ago. It won nearly half of the elected seats in parliamentary elections in June 2000. Local elections are particularly important in Zimbabwe, where local officials have broad powers, particularly in rural areas. Without the opposition candidates, the ruling Zanu PF party is guaranteed to control most of the local governments in the country. Political analysts have called Zimbabwe's nomination process biased and inefficient. The MDC is also challenging the outcome of presidential elections in March, which gave President Robert Mugabe another six years in power. Top From The Independent (UK), 11 September White farmer in gun skirmish By Angus Shaw, AP, in Harare A white farmer exchanged gunfire yesterday with ruling party militants who shot at his homestead and tried to force him off his land. Ian Cochrane fired eight shots into the ground and some above the heads of militants who were surrounding the farmhouse in Karoi district, 125 miles north-west of Harare. No one was hurt. Three of the attackers, armed with pump-action shotguns and a rifle, were accompanied by about 50 militants who barricaded Mr Cochrane and his family inside the yard, Alan Parsons, a neighbour, said. Police intervened, dispersing the attackers, who moved away in trucks to adjacent properties from where at least two more gunshots were heard. The leader of the militants was identified as an army major, Mr Parsons said. "It seems they are trying to provoke farmers to retaliate with weapons," he said. Farmers leaders said Mr Cochrane was among 26 farmers contesting the legality of government eviction orders to leave their farms in the Karoi grain and tobacco belt. The independent Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum said the displacement of farmers had risen since 8 August, the eviction deadline for about 2,900 landowners. Property and equipment had been stolen. In one recent incident, a farmer who fled for her safety returned to find militants in her house and property strewn outside. In south-eastern Chimanimani, police officers, soldiers and Central Intelligence Organisation agents were "meting out a reign of terror", assaulting civilians with fists, boots and whips, the forum said. No one from the government was available for comment. President Robert Mugabe vowed last week to crack down on defiant whites. "Time is not on their side," he declared. Earlier yesterday, police reported that 306 white farmers had been arrested since the eviction deadline. Most were freed on bail but prohibited from returning to their farms before trial proceedings. The government is trying to seize about 95 per cent of white-owned farms. Top From IRIN (UN), 10 September Commercial farmers win latest round against evictions Johannesburg - Ten commercial farmers in Zimbabwe won a legal round against the government's "fast-track" land reform programme this week, setting a precedent for farmers arrested for refusing to leave their land last month. The farmers were brought before the courts on allegations of violating their Section 8 acquisition orders, which forces them to stop farming and leave their land. Many of the over 300 farmers who had refused to quit were arrested and granted bail. The bail conditions varied, including stipulations that they could not return to their farms, that they had to vacate their land by a specified time, or that they could only return under police escort. The Harare High Court revoked the bail conditions on Monday, Commercial Farmers Union vice president for commodities, Doug Taylor-Freeme, told IRIN. The rest of the farmers under similar bail conditions have been advised to consult their lawyers following the ruling. Taylor-Freeme said that in spite of receiving the Section 8 notices, some farmers had won permission to continue farming wheat, which was currently in short supply. However, he said a wave of labour disputes was disrupting production as farmworkers sought their retrenchment packages. Some farmers have argued that they do not have the money to comply with this legal obligation, Taylor-Freeme said. Media reports on Tuesday said shots were fired when so-called "war veterans" surrounded a farm in the remote area of Karoi. Associated Press said that after people in the group shot at his homestead and tried to force him off his land, farmer Ian Cochrane fired eight shots into the ground and some shots over their heads. He was reported to be among a group of farmers contesting the legality of the government's eviction orders. The police could not immediately confirm the incident, and denied allegations that they did not help farmers who said their property was under siege. Police Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena said people settling on farms were not only veterans from the country's liberation struggle, but also landless peasants and disgruntled workers who were "entitled to protest", and the police would only act if there was violence. He told IRIN that previous reports that farmers had been held hostage by miltants were mostly "hearsay". The lobby group Justice for Agriculture has alleged that the government has exceeded its original goal of five million hectares of commercial farm land for redistribution. It said farmers were being targeted unfairly, and the authorities were not keeping to their promise to leave multi-farm owners with at least one farm. "The complaints from the farmers targeted are part of an agenda to demonise land reform programme," Steyn Berejena, the senior spokesman in the Department of Information, told IRIN. He said owners of more than one farm had not come forward to identify which farm they wanted to keep, in accordance with the government's subdivision plans. Under President Robert Mugabe's land reform programme, almost 2,900 white farmers have been ordered to stop farming and make way for the resettlement of landless people. Taylor-Freeme said that due to the fluidity of the situation, it was not immediately clear how many farmers had already left, or were challenging their orders. Top From VOA News, 10 September Zimbabwe set to renew Libya fuel contract Zimbabwe's information department says President Robert Mugabe is expected to renew a contract with Libya for another year's supply of fuel. The deal is said to be worth about $360 million. In the past few weeks, fuel has regularly run short around the country. An official at a major petrol station in Harare said fuel deliveries are becoming increasingly erratic. Zimbabwe gets most of its petrol and diesel from Libya and pays for it in local currency. Zimbabwe has no foreign currency and the government would not be able to import fuel if it had to be paid for in foreign currency. But Zimbabwe could still be facing fuel shortages, even with the new agreement. Libya transports the fuel to Mozambique by ship, and it is then pumped from the port of Beira to Zimbabwe. Pumping costs, port dues, and other costs incurred in Mozambique have to be settled in hard currency. A shipping official in Beira says Zimbabwe has struggled recently to pay its bills to Mozambique and so, increasingly, the fuel has been detained at the port. Mr. Mugabe's dependence on Libya extends far beyond fuel. He and most government leaders are banned from traveling to America or the European Union. Mr. Mugabe can still travel to the United Nations. But the only way he can get to the meeting of the General Assembly, later this week in New York, is in a plane provided by Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi. Top From The Daily News, 10 September Mudzuri summoned By Luke Tamborinyoka Municipal Reporter The government’s simmering discontent with the opposition MDC-dominated Harare City Council reached boiling point last night when the Executive Mayor, Elias Mudzuri, was summoned to a meeting with a high-powered government delegation. Among them were the Commander of the Zimbabwe National Army, Lieutenant-General Constantine Chiwenga, and the Minister of State for Security, Nicholas Goche, who is in charge of the Central Intelligence Organisation. According to a letter signed by Ignatius Chombo, the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, the meeting was to discuss Chombo’s directives, the Harare City Council’s court action against him, his powers regarding the elected council of Harare and the presentation of critical administrative documents by the city. The meeting was also expected to discuss the professional capacity of the council to fulfil mandatory obligations and the co-ordination of government policies within major urban centres around the country. The meeting comes in the wake of a rift between the council and Chombo. The council has filed a petition in the High Court to challenge Chombo, who has ordered them to refer all financial and personnel matters to him for approval. Chombo made the directive soon after the council had ordered a freeze on the appointments and promotions of 1 235 mainly ruling Zanu PF party supporters, sanctioned by the government-appointed Commission shortly before it vacated office in March. According to Chombo’s letter, Mudzuri and his colleagues were scheduled to attend a meeting in the boardroom of the Ministry of Local Government at Makombe Building at 5:30pm. Also expected to be present were Elliot Manyika, the Minister of Youth Development, Gender and Employment Creation, Kembo Mohadi, the Minister of Home Affairs, and Sithembiso Nyoni, the Minister of Small and Medium Enterprises Development. Mudzuri was to be accompanied by his executive committee. The outcome of the meeting could not be immediately established last night, but ministry officials said the government delegation was likely to read the riot act to the new council, which has had a frosty relationship with the minister. "Otherwise how does one explain the presence of Chiwenga and Goche, if it is not to intimidate the new council?" an official said. Mudzuri could not be reached for comment as he was said to have already left for the meeting. Chombo’s letter is copied to the permanent secretaries of all the invited ministers. The council has clashed with Chombo over war veteran Joseph Chinotimba, a council employee accused of absconding from duty while conducting Zanu PF business. The council is currently awaiting a report on his involvement in the eviction of a Banket farmer when he was supposed to be on duty. The council has fired former public relations manager Leslie Gwindi, a Zanu PF apologist, allegedly improperly recruited by the Commission at a time the council was supposed to cut its salary bill in line with an earlier government directive. Top From The Financial Gazette, 12 September Govt owed $100 billion by DRC By Sydney Masamvu Political Editor The Zimbabwe government is battling to recover a staggering $100 billion it spent on the four-year war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) which has contributed to Zimbabwe's economic crisis, government officials said this week. The size of the debt, almost a third of this year's national budget, was disclosed during a heated meeting between a DRC ministerial delegation and Zimbabwean government officials held at the Zimbabwean resort town of Nyanga two weeks ago. Official sources told the Financial Gazette this week that the meeting between the two allies in the DRC war was tense and dealt with the recovery of the billions of dollars Zimbabwe spent on the war effort to prop up the Kinshasa regime. "The Zimbabwe government is owed about $100 billion by the DRC on the whole effort and we still have not made any meaningful progress to recover the cost," one official who attended the meeting said. The government, which deployed 10 000 soldiers in the DRC to fight off the Tutsi rebellion in August 1998, has been footing a large chunk of the war bill. Zimbabwe Defences Forces military equipment worth billions of dollars has been destroyed in the war, which sucked in six countries in the Great Lakes region. Billions of dollars were also spent by Harare to buy arms from China and air power from Russia. The national airline, Air Zimbabwe, is also owed US$4 million ($220 million) by Congolese national airliner Lignes Airlines Congolais. However, according to the sources, the government has not benefited directly from the war in the DRC, save for individual ruling Zanu PF politicians. International investigators have previously alleged that some Cabinet ministers, influential Zanu PF politicians and some army generals had benefited immensely in their individual capacities through diamond sales and mining concessions held by a company called Operation Sovereign Legitimacy (OSLEG). Authoritative government sources say none of the proceeds from these deals have found their way into the state's coffers and the government is now making frantic efforts to recover its costs following the DRC ceasefire. The costs of the war effort were supposed to be recovered through joint ventures between Zimbabwe and the DRC, but most of these have failed to take off in the past three years. Some of the ventures still on the cards include timber logging, mining, agriculture and preferential energy imports. The sources said former finance minister Simba Makoni grappled with the DRC ministerial delegation in Nyanga two weeks ago to force it into signing accords that would help Zimbabwe to recover at least some of the costs through preferential trade. The agreements signed relate to payments and offsetting of debts, avoidance of double taxation, preferential trade, bilateral investment promotion and protection, movement of persons and information, press and broadcasting. Makoni, who has resigned from the government, yesterday declined to disclose the amount owed by the DRC to Zimbabwe, saying he was not in a position to do so since he was no longer a government member. His successor Herbert Murerwa, who was also part of the Nyanga delegation, could not be reached for comment because he is in Libya. Industry and International Trade Ministry permanent secretary Stuart Comberbach declined to comment on the matter, saying he was not privy to the details of the debt, which he said was being handled by a special Zimbabwe-DRC committee. Eugenia Ntumba, the second secretary at the DRC embassy in Harare, said she was not in a position yet to disclose her country's arrears to Zimbabwe. She said a government panel working on the issue was still discussing the matter. But official sources said army commander Vitalis Zvinavashe, who was at the Nyanga meeting, pressed for the recent removal of visa restrictions on Zimbabweans. They said he reminded the Congolese delegation that when Zimbabwean soldiers entered the DRC in 1998 to quell the Tutsi rebellion that was backed by Rwanda, they were not asked for visas. The DRC team had insisted on keeping the visa restriction, which was scrapped under one of the agreements signed last month. Zimbabwe's involvement in the DRC war is partly blamed for triggering Zimbabwe's economic meltdown, shown out by rampant inflation, foreign currency shortages that are threatening the economy, company closures and soaring joblessness and poverty. The economy is forecast to contract at least 11 percent this year, its worst performance since independence two decades ago. The government has also failed to raise $160 billion to fund its controversial agrarian reforms and US$380 million for food imports to feed six million Zimbabweans, or half the population, facing starvation because of a poor rainy season and the land reforms. Top From CNN, 11 September S.Africa's Mbeki wants to discuss Zimbabwe at U.N. Cape Town - South African President Thabo Mbeki will try to discuss the Zimbabwe crisis with Commonwealth colleagues at the United Nations General Assembly in coming days, a government minister said on Wednesday. Despite Western pressure and limited sanctions against President Robert Mugabe, the political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe has dominated southern African politics for more than two years, denting investor confidence in the region and undermining the value of South Africa's rand currency. Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad said Mbeki, due in New York on Wednesday for the annual General Assembly, would try to meet Commonwealth colleagues Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and Australian Prime Minister John Howard on the sidelines of the assembly. "If they are all there at the same time, it is expected that they will try to meet to tackle the Commonwealth mandate...to find in some way a solution to the situation in Zimbabwe. "There is an economic crisis in Zimbabwe, the food situation is quite dramatic, tensions are still very high," Pahad said. Zimbabwe has been in crisis since militant supporters of Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF began to seize white-owned farms for landless blacks in 2000. Mbeki has refused to take unilateral steps against Mugabe, but agreed with Obasanjo and Howard in March to suspend Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth in protest against an election Mugabe was alleged to have stolen through intimidation and fraud. Mugabe has ordered 2,900 of the country's 4,500 white farmers to surrender their land without compensation. More than 300 farmers have been charged for defying the order. Mugabe says he is taking the land to redress a colonial legacy that left 72 percent of the best land in the hands of a tiny white minority after independence in 1980. Pahad said there was broad international agreement that the skewed post-colonial distribution of land in Africa was a problem in many countries, including Zimbabwe. But he added: "We do believe land reform must be done in an orderly way, within the rule of law, within the constitution of the country. (We must)...ensure that the principle of willing buyer, willing seller becomes a reality," he added. In parliament, Deputy President Jacob Zuma dismissed opposition charges that the government had failed to protect the investments of some 75 South Africans farming in Zimbabwe. Democratic Alliance legislator Andries Botha said he had visited Zimbabwe in the past week and had seen that the French, German and Dutch governments had intervened to protect the investments of their nationals. Zuma responded: "You want us to emulate France, Germany. We can't, we cannot. We are South Africa and we remain South Africa with our clear policies how to relate to other countries. It's very clear, we cannot help you. We cannot go to Zimbabwe and tell the Zimbabweans: Do this and do not do that. It's not our duty," Zuma said. Pahad said South Africa was pressing for the conclusion of a protection of investment treaty with Zimbabwe, which has been under negotiation for many months. "We are very keen that this agreement gets signed very quickly because it does give South African investors some form of legal protection. But in the end, it depends when you have signed this agreement whether they really implement it." Top From The Star (SA), 11 September Gaddafi comes to Mugabe's rescue again Harare - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has again come to President Robert Mugabe's rescue, with a deal for another year's supply of petrol, the Zimbabwean state press reported on Wednesday. The Herald said the two countries signed an agreement for the supply of $360-million (about R4-billion) worth of fuel on Monday night. The report came as fuel supplies in the country are worsening. On Tuesday and Wednesday fuel stations in Harare either had "no fuel" signs up or queues of cars waiting for petrol. The Herald, reporting from Libya where Mugabe arrived on Saturday, said the cash would be delivered in quarterly tranches of $90-million. The newspaper gave few details of an "investment agreement" in which Libya would receive Zimbabwean agricultural products and take up stakes in productive sectors and the fuel industry. However, the deal was slammed by some. "To say we have an investment agreement is rubbish," said economist John Robertson. "The whole thing is opaque, and they mean to keep it that way." Gaddafi is seen as Mugabe's strongest supporter in Africa. In August last year, with foreign currency reserves desperately short and faced with diminishing fuel supplies, Mugabe secured the first $360-million deal with Libya. It expired on August 31. Fuel industry experts say Libya now is probably the country's only source of fuel. "Consumption is down to about three-quarters of what it was because of the decline of the economy, so $30-million a month will be more than enough," said Robertson. Monday's agreement was between Tamoil, the Libyan state fuel supply company, the Libyan Arab Investment Bank and the Libyan Arab Investment Company, said the Herald. The same companies were involved in the last year's agreement. Zimbabwe Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa signed the "trade, investment and fuel supply agreement" with his Libyan counterpart Ageli Breni. Murerwa was quoted as saying that Libya would also "invest in the mining, tourism and agricultural sectors and infrastructure development in the oil industry". Libya would enter joint ventures in Zimbabwe and re-open gold mines that had been shut down. About 50 gold mines have closed in the last two years as a result of the collapse of the economy. Murerwa said Zimbabwe would also export beef, tobacco and fruit to Libya. However, there was no independent confirmation of the arrangements. "An investment agreement is about parties taking and giving," said Robertson. "What have we to give? Nothing." Fuel first began to run out in December 1999 when the government was unable to meet payments for supplies from foreign oil companies. The shortage saw motorists waiting in queues at service stations for days on end while government made short-term finance and supply deals and often defaulted on payments. Top From The Financial Gazette, 12 September Maputo detains Zimbabwe wheat Staff Reporter Authorities of the port city of Maputo in Mozambique are withholding 22 000 tonnes of wheat destined for famine-hit Zimbabwe pending payment of handling fees owed by the Grain Marketing Board (GMB), Zimbabwe milling industry officials said this week. The officials said the Mozambicans are demanding cash upfront in foreign currency before the wheat, which arrived in Maputo last week, is released. Deliveries of the wheat, which will last Zimbabwe up to four weeks, were supposed to have started at the beginning of this week. "The wheat was supposed to start arriving on Monday but there is a problem with handling fees at the port which are yet to be paid," an official of a Zimbabwe milling firm told the Financial Gazette. "The wheat might come after next week depending on how the GMB resolves the issue. But they have assured us that they are doing their best to bring in the product." It was not possible this week to ascertain how much the Mozambicans are owed by the government-owned GMB, which has a monopoly in importing and distributing wheat and maize, the two staples that are critically short in the country. This is not the first time that Zimbabwe has failed to pay handling fees in Mozambique. Last month, a ship carrying fuel from Libya was docked at Beira port for a week after Mozambique's BP refused to allow the fuel to be offloaded into its tanks. The Mozambican firm wanted the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe, another state firm, to settle more than US$3 million in outstanding charges for previous usage of the storage facilities and handling fees before the fuel could be offloaded. GMB's acting chief executive Joan Mtukwa said she could not comment on the matter without permission from the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement. Agriculture Minister Joseph Made was said to be in meetings the whole day yesterday and could not be contacted on his mobile telephone. An official at the trade section of Mozambique's Harare embassy who declined to be named said she was not aware of Zimbabwe's failure to pay the handling fees. There was also uncertainty this week on the exact amount of wheat that has been imported by the GMB, with some millers saying only 19 000 tonnes had been secured. Although the government has not said where it is buying the wheat, milling industry officials said it had most likely been secured from Argentina, the world's cheapest source of the grain. Bakers' Association of Zimbabwe chairman Armitage Chikwavira this week would not comment on the delay of the wheat imports and referred all questions to the GMB. But other industry officials said the withholding of wheat by the Mozambicans would worsen the bread crisis that has gripped Zimbabwe in the past month. Bakers said the country's flour supplies had reached critical levels and further delays in the arrival of wheat imports would result in remaining flour stocks drying up. Top From SABC News, 12 September Zimbabwe farmer comes under fire, horse burnt alive President Robert Mugabe's militias in northern Zimbabwe stepped up their attempts to drive a white farmer off his land yesterday, opening fire on the family for the second day in a row, neighbours said. A horse was also trapped alive in its stable on a farm in the Karoi district 200 km north of Harare and appeared to have been burnt alive deliberately, they said. The animal suffered 90 degree burns and had to be destroyed. Earlier in the afternoon, farmer Ian Cochrane (43), and his wife, Jo, fled when they were confronted by a mob of about 60 people. Up to 30 shots were fired, first in the air and then at them, by eight men armed with shotguns, said neighbour Alan Parsons. Neither was injured. The use of firearms by war veterans and squatters against white farmers has been relatively uncommon since the illegal state-driven invasion of white land began in February 2000. However, several of the 13 white farmers murdered since then have died in gunfire, some of them in full military-style assaults or ambushes by heavily armed "veterans" and members of Mugabe's secret police. Mugabe charges that whites continue to own the majority of arable land in this southern African country, and has implemented forced evictions of white farmers from about 3000 properties and turned over the land to landless peasants. Hundreds of thousands of black farm workers employed by the farmers, however, have been displaced and many Zimbabweans are starving because of lagging food production. Cochrane's farm has not been listed for eviction, but he is regarded as an outspoken member of his community who has confronted police and demanded they act against lawless ruling party militias. The recent attacks are regarded as an attempt to force him to flee. The mob also surrounded the home of Cochrane's mother, Thea Cochrane (67), screaming at her, while some of them forced their way into a cottage next door belonging to Cochrane's sister and looted it, Parsons said. Armed police arrived at the scene after the mob had left, but refused to leave an armed guard to protect the family, who include the couple's two young children. No attempt was made to pursue the mob. Top Comment from ZWNews Environmental disaster By Michael Hartnack For Western nations ­ and South Africa - the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg was a diplomatic disaster. For Zimbabwe, the gathering, where power and posturing defeated scientific fact and even common sense, represented a conservation disaster ­ underlined by Robert Mugabe’s tirade. From Harare, the applause for Mugabe sounded like the death rattle of 7.8 million people at risk of starvation, the crash of forests felled for firewood, the moan of sand-laden wind among dry weeds. Mugabe was applauded for inflicting upon the summit a series of stunning untruths or self-deceptions which translate in Zimbabwe, quite simply, into shortages of bread, maize meal, cooking oil, petrol, into derelict farmlands and homeless ex-farmworkers. "The poor have given us a mandate to govern them," Mugabe told the summit. Given? Is that why it was necessary to terrorise the country with teenage "war veterans", trash farms, stuff ballot boxes, bar thousands from voting? Every white is entitled to at least one farm but some own up to 35. "These are figures I am not just getting out of my mind, they are real figures," he declared. In reality, more than 2 000 single-property owners are being evicted, and no one - except members of Mugabe’s own elite - has farms to the extent he claimed. "We have not asked for one square inch of Europe. So (Prime Minister Tony) Blair, keep your England and I will keep my Zimbabwe." Mugabe has in effect annexed a fair sized European city - there are 10 times as many black Zimbabwean economic refugees in Britain as there are whites in Zimbabwe, quite apart from the 2,4 million Zimbabweans living in South Africa. "We are threatening no one…we wish no harm to anyone." As Mugabe uttered those words, 17 labourers were arrested while digging pit latrines at a refuge for displaced workers, on preposterous charges of "undergoing terrorist training." We must expect an orgy of repression in the wake of Mugabe's Johannesburg triumph - for that is how he sees it. Whites who dare disagree may remain only as jailed felons. Black dissenters are "puppets, traitors". Even the most casual observer in Zimbabwe can see that Mugabe’s assertions that his regime seeks to protect the environment for present and future generations are patently untrue. In an open letter to Mugabe coinciding with the summit, Zimbabwe-born ecologist Allan Savory, who lauded the Zimbabwe leader in the early years after 1980 independence, finally revealed 22 years of fruitless behind-the-scenes dealings with him on environmental issues. Reflecting painful disenchantment, Savory protested at the "path with tragic consequences" on which he said Mugabe has set Zimbabwe. The ecologist, now based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, urged Mugabe "to reverse our most serious problem ­ desertification"; not "act as a short sighted politician". If Mugabe notices the letter, it is likely to be with a fleeting, derisive giggle. As a member of Parliament in Ian Smith's Rhodesian Front party, Savory crossed swords with fellow white legislators. On environmental issues, he advocated acceptance of his entire Holistic Resource Management approach. Savory's political views have varied, supporting first the Rhodesian Front and then Mugabe. But many of his pronouncements on ecological issues remain extremely relevant. Mugabe has been barnstorming round the country urging his supporters to seize irrigation equipment from fleeing whites, and promising a massive programme of dam-construction to free them forever from the threat of drought and famine. Back in 1970, Savory, now 68, warned that vanished civilisations wasted vast labour and resources thinking irrigation works would meet their exploding agricultural needs. These works quickly became worthless, silted-up malarial death traps as catchments were destroyed by bad pastoral and cultivation practices, and once-reliable river flow became erratic in consequence. In his open letter to Mugabe, Savory revealed how in 1984 "I informed you I had finally discovered a way to reverse the land degradation…I requested your government have the matter fully investigated as most officials in Zimbabwe opposed my views - you agreed to my request, saying: ‘We have no more serious problem than our rising population and deteriorating land’ (your exact words)." Savory said he eventually wrote to Mugabe "in desperation" in April 1994, saying the ability to reverse land deterioration was being held up by civil service inertia, and adding that millions might by now have been resettled "without displacing a single farmer, disrupting our economy, or causing massive unemployment." What Savory may now realise is that Mugabe and his associates were never interested in resolving environmental problems: they wanted to exploit them to gain and retain power. Thus it still is today. Top From The Zimbabwe Independent, 13 September Libya ups demands Vincent Kahiya As petrol queues persisted yesterday, structural cracks are emerging in the latest Zimbabwe/Libya fuel deal. Despite being granted a pick of the country's choice assets, the Libyan government has reportedly stepped up pressure on Zimbabwe to offer more assets of greater value as guarantee for sustained fuel supplies. The Zimbabwe Independent has learnt that the trade pact signed between the two countries this week leans in the Libyans' favour after they complained they had not secured enough in the way of prime assets in Zimbabwe since the signing of the oil deal in August last year. Industry sources this week said despite the renewal of the US$360 million fuel supply deal on Tuesday, there were still problems that threatened the flow of fuel. The sources said although queues might disappear in the next two weeks, they would reappear as soon as the country started defaulting on payments. The government has blamed current shortages on logistical problems and panic buying of the commodity. "What has to be understood is that the deal with the Libyans is not a grant but a loan which has to be repaid using foreign currency which we do not have at the moment," a source said. "Our ability to repay the loan will determine the volumes we get unless Zimbabwe devises other modes of payment which do not involve foreign currency." Foreign currency inflows from the sale of tobacco normally start around October but Zimbabwe has a food deficit of 1,1 million tonnes and requires at least US$160 million to import maize between now and the next harvest. A Libyan delegation is currently in the country exploring opportunities in the petro-chemical sector. The delegation, which includes officials from Tamoil who supply fuel to Zimbabwe, on Wednesday visited Noczim's Mabvuku storage facilities in Harare. Yesterday they were expected to visit Feruka fuel handling facilities in Mutare. The delegation is also expected to visit cattle ranches in south-eastern Zimbabwe. Sources said the Libyans also wanted a controlling stake in the Jewel Bank where they currently have a 14% stake. Absa Bank of South Africa holds the majority shares at 35%. A source in the fuel industry said the Libyans had strengthened their resolve to acquire a portion of Noczim, especially fuel-holding tanks. "The Libyans have seen the desperate situation we are in and are in a strong position to cherry-pick what they want," the source said. "They are keen to acquire the holding tanks, as these are strategic in their regional expansion drive." The Libyans pump fuel into Noczim tanks and drawdowns depend on what Zimbabwe has paid for. "Tamoil is seeking to push its product up to Zambia or Malawi if demand is low in Zimbabwe, and the holding tanks will enable them to do that in the shortest possible time," the source said. Other industry sources said the country was slowly reverting to the 1999 and 2000 scenarios when it was buying expensive fuel because suppliers were charging a premium in the light of Zimbabwe's poor creditworthiness. "The Libyan fuel is no longer cheap because we forfeited the initial trust they had in us by defaulting on payments. They are now putting a premium on it," one source said. Zimbabwe owes the Libyans US$60 million for fuel delivered. Top From The Times (UK), 13 September Mugabe 'thugs' kidnap election candidates By Daniel McGrory The Harare regime has unleashed a wave of terror as voters prepare to go to the polls Organised gangs loyal to Robert Mugabe have kidnapped and beaten hundreds of opposition candidates to stop them from registering for this month’s local elections. As Zimbabwe’s President attended the United Nations General Assembly in New York, his opponents in Harare released a dossier showing how nearly 600 of their 1,200 candidates had been blocked from contesting the ballot. Leaders of the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), said that Western powers were so obsessed with dealing with Iraq that they were ignoring President Mugabe’s worsening reign of terror. Paul Themba Nyathi, the MDC’s Director of Elections, who has met Foreign Office diplomats in London, said: "Mugabe is acting with impunity now because he knows he can get away with it. Western leaders talk about dealing with tyrants, so how does Mugabe escape?" MDC candidates have been kidnapped and beaten to stop them from registering in time for the September 28 elections. Police roadblocks have been placed at registration centres in some parts of the country to bar access by MDC candidates and armed militias have waited outside a number of offices to intercept opponents attempting to meet the deadline. Some candidates are still being held hostage. Mr Nyathi said: "So who do we complain to about this? The courts, the police, the election officials are all in Mugabe’s pocket. Look at who the beneficiaries are who are being given previously white-owned farms - judges, army commanders, secret police chiefs, senior policemen; so who maintains the law? The West is more concerned about the confiscation of white-owned farms and Mugabe’s performance at the Earth Summit to monitor this latest episode. It doesn’t matter what sort of intimidation is employed during campaigning if you have stopped nearly half of the opposing side from even standing." For his part, Mr Mugabe told the UN yesterday that Zimbabwe had cast off the "colonial yoke for all time", and attacked Britain and Tony Blair. He said: "I appeal to this General Assembly to convey to Britain and especially to…Mr Tony Blair that Zimbabwe ceased to be a British colony in 1980 after Prince Charles had gracefully lowered the British flag. He should also be informed that the people of Zimbabwe waged an armed revolutionary struggle for their independence and stand ready to defend it in the same way." The campaign of intimidation in Zimbabwe is worse than that during the presidential election campaign earlier this year. Mr Mugabe won, but international observers said that the election was flawed. For the vote on the last weekend of September there will be no outside observers. The MDC’s dossier alleges that one of Mr Mugabe’s ministers, Didymus Mutasa, led a Zanu PF mob in Manicaland that was stopping opposition candidates from registering. In Chegutu a mob stormed the district offices, assaulted MDC officials and abducted Hilda Mafudze, the local MP. In Midlands South, 100 miles (160 km) south of the capital, 36 candidates pulled out of the election and 20 other aspiring councillors were assaulted and tortured. Typical of the assaults was the midnight abduction last month of Wilson Mabhera, the MDC chairman in Hurungwe. He was woken by a group of men who said that their lorry had broken down and asked for help. As he stepped outside he was dragged to the lorry where he recognised some of his Zanu PF opponents. He was beaten for two hours and told he would be killed if he stood in the election. The MDC leader has begun a court challenge to March’s presidential election. He has also warned that the growing frustration inside Zimbabwe is leading to a "people’s storm" which is ready to take on what he calls the President’ s "civil-military junta". MDC leaders have restrained their followers from mass demonstrations because they fear that the security forces will be ordered to use "extreme force" against any protest. Mr Nyathi said: "Frustration is boiling over. There is hunger and soon there will be starvation. If you remove their only hope, which is the election, then what have people got left but to protest? The West does not think Zimbabwe is a priority and so Mugabe can do what he wants. It’s too late for any observer force. The damage has been done. This election is the worst fraud yet." Top From The Daily News, 12 September Tongogara's brother held hostage in Shurugwi Zerubabel Mudzingwa in Gweru Joshua Tongogara, a younger brother of the Zimbabwe liberation war hero, Josiah Magama Tongogara, is one of three opposition MDC candidates in Shurugwi held hostage at their homes on Monday by suspected ruling Zanu PF party militants. They were ordered to withdraw their candidature in the forthcoming rural district council elections. Lyson Mlambo, the MDC provincial chairman for Midlands, identified the other victims as Hlomayi Makotore (Ward 8) and Irene Mafukidze (Ward 11). Joshua Tongogara was the MDC candidate for Ward 4. "The Zanu PF intimidatory tactics have reached alarming levels and we now fear for the security of our candidates," said Mlambo. Joshua Tongogara, the youngest brother of the late Zanla commander Josiah Tongogara, defected from Zanu PF to the MDC nearly two years ago after the family said they felt neglected by the ruling party. Their mother, Sukai Tongogara, who died in Shurugwi last month at the age of 92, had complained for a long time that Zanu PF, some of whose freedom fighters her son led into battle against the Smith regime, had neglected her after burying Josiah among the very first heroes to be interred at the National Heroes' Acre in Harare in 1981. Zanu PF made amends by paying all her funeral expenses. "All our candidates' homes in Shurugwi have been sealed off by marauding Zanu PF youths to ensure that they do not reach out to the constituents. They are being forced to withdraw their candidature before the election," Mlambo said. The elections begin on 28 September. Mlambo said Tongogara had received death threats from a group of Zanu PF youths camped at his family's farm in Gamwa purchase lands. "We have also received reports that four other MDC candidates - Njere Chou, Farai Sibindwani, Muhle Mudewa and Deliwe Marima ­ have been summoned to the chief's court for daring to contest the election against their headmen," Mlambo said. Two weeks ago, 36 MDC candidates pulled out of the race following death threats from suspected Zanu PF supporters in Shurugwi, Zvishavane, Mberengwa and Chirumanzu. But July Moyo, the Midlands provincial chairman for Zanu PF, said he was unaware of any incidents of violence linked to the council elections scheduled for this month-end. Meanwhile, Anthony Chamahwinya, the MDC's provincial deputy organising secretary who was brutally attacked by suspected Zanu PF militants two weeks ago, was discharged from hospital yesterday. Chamahwinya was attacked at Holy Cross Mission while distributing nomination papers for his party's prospective candidates. He sustained deep cuts on the head and arms and was admitted to Driefontein Mission Hospital. Although MDC officials yesterday maintained that the attack was unprovoked, Innocent Chikiyi, the Zanu PF MP for Chirumanzu, said Chamahwinya provoked the attack after he parked his car in front of a shop owned by a Zanu PF candidate. "The Zanu PF youths felt extremely offended and ordered Chamahwinya and his crew to drive off. Instead of moving, he started attacking one of our youths, incurring the wrath of other youths who were standing nearby," said Chikiyi. Top From The Zimbabwe Independent, 13 September Maize stocks critical Augustine Mukaro Maize stocks have dwindled to unprecedented levels and could run out early next week unless the government gets fresh supplies, the latest United Nations humanitarian report has said. Over the past two weeks shops have not received any supplies of mealie-meal while bread shortages have become a common feature of people's daily lives. "The maize in the country is expected to run out during the second half of September unless the planned imports are quickly moved into the country," the UN report said. Government is understood to have suspended grain imports until the end of the year arguing that food aid would cater for the country's needs for the next four months. Milling industry sources this week confirmed the government had not floated new tenders for the importation of grain. "If I was in a position of influence at the Grain Marketing Board I would float tenders now because the logistics of bringing the maize into the country is a nightmare," a source said. "If tenders are floated now, such maize will only get into the country after six weeks at the earliest." Food imports by humanitarian organisations, government and private players recently granted permits to import food continue to be slow despite government's acceptance last week of genetically-modified foods to stave off a looming famine. The UN report says a mere 382 965 tonnes of food had by mid-last month been brought into the country since April. "Food imports continue to be slow at a time when the majority of the rural households have run out of the 2001/2 harvest," the report said. Zimbabwe has a maize deficit of 1,1 million tonnes. The report says despite concerted efforts to import maize being made, there were no known plans to import wheat. "Despite speculation that wheat stocks have already dried up because of the current bread shortages and that this season's harvest would only be available on the market in October, no plans are in place," says the report. Humanitarian organisations and private companies have complained government's bureaucratic set-up was delaying movement of imported food. Private-sector sources said the donor community is prepared to provide grain to Zimbabwe but the only available grain would be GM-engineered. "The donor community, particularly in the US is prepared to avail grain that would feed the country until next season's harvest," sources said. Private players who have obtained licences to import food include Plan International which has already shipped into the country 2 117 tonnes of food, Oxfam (GB) which has been granted a permit to import a maximum of 10 000 tonnes of food per month, and recently Zimbabwe Regional Disaster Alleviation Trust which obtained a permit to import 700 000 tonnes of which 600 000 tonnes would be maize. Top From The Daily News, 12 September UN complains over impounded goods Henry Makiwa The United Nations has formally complained to the Zimbabwean government after the police raided a Harare house on Saturday, where the organisation has been storing food for its local employees. The UN employs more than 1 000 workers in Zimbabwe. The police reportedly accused some UN officials of hoarding basic commodities such as wheat, maize-meal and sugar while the country is facing a crippling food shortage. Festo Kavishe, a representative of United Nations Children's Fund, yesterday said they had written a letter of complaint to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He dismissed allegations that the UN was hoarding food and said the police action of impounding their food was unlawful. Kavishe said: "We found it grossly unbecoming of the police to raid our property, accusing us of engaging in illegal activities when the UN is a known independent and global organisation, which does not harbour any sinister motives, but strives to improve the lives of all peoples. "To us, it was a violation of our privileges and immunity as a neutral and apolitical organisation. We have, therefore, requested the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to intervene on our behalf. We hope the government will react urgently and resolve the matter amicably." Abednico Ncube, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, could not be reached for comment yesterday. On Saturday night, the State-controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation reported that the police had successfully busted a "hoarding scam" involving UN officials. The police were still stationed at the UN storehouse yesterday. Kavishe said: "The goods confiscated by the police are meant to feed UN workers and their families resident in Zimbabwe, who will be engaged in humanitarian projects meant to alleviate poverty and hunger." Some of the confiscated goods, such as wheat and mealie-meal, have already been taken to the Grain Marketing Board silos by the police, apparently to be distributed as food aid by the government. Top From The Star (SA), 12 September New laws to aid Mugabe's land grab Harare - President Robert Mugabe's government is to rush new laws through Zimbabwe's Parliament that will make it easier to seize white-owned land. It would increase the penalty for farmers who disobeyed eviction orders, the country's state press reported on Thursday. The Herald said Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa notified Parliament on Wednesday that he would introduce a bill that would remove legal requirements that had slowed down the process of land seizures. A drive last month to force over 3 000 farmers off their property was only partially successful because state officials bungled the orders and were overturned by the courts. Last week Chinamasa admitted there had "not been full compliance" with the issue of 90-day eviction orders. However, he warned that "no farmer should take any comfort from failure or oversight by government officials" because he would introduce laws that remove the legal protection for property owners. The Herald said Chinamasa gave notice he would ask Parliament to lift legal requirements to allow his proposed amendments be discussed first by ministerial committees and by his legal committee. The current law obliges the government to reissue eviction orders which give the farmers affected another 90 days in which to wind up their affairs. The new law would give the farmer with a reissued order only five days, the Herald said. Most of the 3 000 eviction orders issued last month were nullified by a high court order which ruled that they had to be served on both the owner and any financial institution holding a bond on the property at the same time. In terms of Chinamasa's proposed amendments, the government would be able to serve them on the financial institution at any time. The current law said the government had to prove in court that the land it wanted to seize was "suitable for agricultural resettlement". The amendments would do away with the clause. The amendments would also increase the fine for non-compliance with an eviction order from Z$20 000 to Z$100 000. The government has said it intends seizing 11-million hectares of land and claims it would leave the commercial farming sector of 4 500 families with 200 000 hectares. Top From The Independent (UK), 14 September Judge arrested in Harare police raid By Basildon Peta, Southern Africa Correspondent Police in Zimbabwe have arrested a retired white judge who tried to have the Justice Minister detained on contempt of court charges. It is the first time a judge in Zimbabwe has been arrested. The opposition denounced yesterday's arrest as a vendetta by the government against Judge Fergus Blackie for his contempt ruling against Patrick Chinamasa earlier this year. Relatives said the police stormed Judge Blackie's Harare home at 4am and took him away. Deirdre Blackie, the judge's daughter-in-law, told The Independent that her family feared for his safety. "Of major concern to us is that they [the police] are denying us access to him. He is 65 and has blood pressure problems. We can't get medication to him," said Mrs Blackie. "It's not an issue of his honesty and capability. It's all about his colour." The arrest was foreshadowed by an article in the state-controlled Herald newspaper yesterday claiming that Judge Blackie would face criminal prosecution for "abusing" his position to overturn the embezzlement conviction of a white woman, Tara White. The Herald said the new Chief Justice, Godfrey Chidyausiku, an ally of the President, Robert Mugabe, had instructed the police to start criminal investigations against Judge Blackie. Chief Justice Chidyausiku accused Judge Blackie of "improperly" quashing Ms White's conviction because he had failed to consult the black judge who sat with him on the case. But the political opposition believes the real reason for Judge Blackie's arrest is that shortly before his retirement in July, he ordered the arrest of Mr Chinamasa for criticising sentences imposed on three Americans for possessing arms. The Justice Minister was not arrested and said at the time that Judge Blackie's ruling was "a hostile parting shot against the executive which should not be tolerated". Judge Blackie was the seventh judge in 15 months to step down from the bench after issuing rulings that angered Mr Mugabe. The Chief Justice, Anthony Gubbay, was among those forced to quit after he declared Mr Mugabe's land seizures unlawful. Chief Justice Chidyausiku had previously been a deputy cabinet minister. Military sources said yesterday that Mr Mugabe would secretly keep more than 2 000 troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo to safeguard his mining interests, despite claims he would withdraw them all. Although an official ceremony was held yesterday in the diamond rich town of Mbuji Mbayi to mark the beginning of the withdrawal in line with a recent peace accord, military sources said it did not make strategic sense for Mr Mugabe to withdraw all his troops. "The DRC army is rag-tag and there is still need to safeguard Zimbabwe's vital interests there," one military source said in reference to vast mining concessions granted to Zimbabwe in exchange for Mr Mugabe's military support. Although the mines were supposed to be exploited to reimburse the debt owed to Zimbabwe's national treasury by the Congolese government for the war effort, the proceeds from the mining deals allegedly have been pocketed by Mr Mugabe, his henchmen and senior figures in the army. Sources said Mr Mugabe would retain some presence in Congo until peace was fully restored. Opposition figures believe many senior Zimbabwean army officials do not want peace because this would hamper their efforts to loot the mineral riches. The Congolese President, Joseph Kabila, wants some soldiers to remain because he cannot rely on his own army to safeguard his position should the peace deals fail. At one stage, Mr Mugabe had 16,000 soldiers in Congo. At least 10,000 Zimbabwean soldiers are there now, contrary to Zimbabwe's claim that only 3,000 soldiers are left. Top From Associated Press, 13 September Zimbabwe leaves key diamond center Mbuji-Mayi, Congo - Congolese ally Zimbabwe started withdrawing its troops Friday from the key diamond-center of Mbuji-Mayi, one of the hardest-defended targets during the central African nation's ruinous four-year war. Zimbabwe's withdrawal comes after separate peace accords Congo made with Rwanda and Uganda. In the wake of the still-tentative peace deals, Congo's allies "have decided to give the space and the time to the Congolese people to choose for themselves a durable solution to their problems," Zimbabwe Maj. Gen. Philip Sibanda declared as his troops paraded before leaving the city. At the peak of its involvement in the multination conflict - estimated to have killed as many as 2.5 million people, most through famine and disease - Zimbabwe had nearly 14,000 troops fighting in mineral-rich Congo against Rwandan and Ugandan forces and their Congolese rebel allies. Congo's war began in August 1998, when Rwanda and Uganda sent in troops to back Congolese rebels seeking the overthrow of Laurent Kabila, the father of current Congo President Joseph Kabila. Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia sent troops to support the government. The resulting conflict split Congo, Africa's third-largest country, into government- and rebel-held zones. Zimbabwe's defense was key to the government in the Congo capital and in Mbuji-Mayi, whose diamond riches were wanted by both sides to help defray the costs of the war. Zimbabwe tanks long ringed the muddy town, with its open-air diamond markets. Last week, Kabila and his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni ratified a peace deal in Luanda, Angola, which includes the withdrawal of Ugandan forces backing Congolese rebels. In a July 30 pact, Congo pledged to disarm and send home Rwandan rebels based on its soil, in return for Rwanda's pledge to pull its troops out of Congo. Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe cited that accord last month in announcing the coming - indefinite - withdrawal of his country's forces. Zimbabwe, which had already withdrawn some soldiers from Congo, still has one of the larger deployments of foreign troops there. Zimbabwean officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that nearly 3,000 Zimbabwean troops would remain in Congo for the time being. Namibia had already withdrawn its several hundred troops and Angola has a "token" force in the country, the U.N. mission in Congo said recently. Top From The Weekend Australian, 14 September Nigeria meeting for Zimbabwe troika The Commonwealth leaders' troika on Zimbabwe would meet in Nigeria this month to consider sanctions against President Robert Mugabe's government, Prime Minister John Howard said today. Mr Mugabe has ignored international pressure to reform Zimbabwe's economy and political processes after electoral corruption and human rights abuses. White farmers have been driven off their farms by independence war veterans, leading to greatly reduced rural produce and fears of famine. "As chairman in office of the Commonwealth I have decided to convene a second meeting of the Commonwealth leaders' troika on Zimbabwe," Mr Howard said in a statement. "Preparations are proceeding for a meeting of the troika in Abuja, Nigeria, on 23 September, 2002, to consider developments in Zimbabwe." He said he took the decision after consultation with Commonwealth leaders. "My fellow Commonwealth troika leaders, President (Olusegun) Obasanjo of Nigeria and President (Thabo) Mbeki Of South Africa, have confirmed their availability for the meeting, assisted by the Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon," Mr Howard said. "We have agreed to meet in Abuja at the invitation of President Obasanjo. "Given the importance of the Zimbabwe issue for Africa, it is of course particularly appropriate that our meeting be held on the African continent." Under a mandate from the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) at Coolum, on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, early this year, the troika last met in March in London. They issued the Marlborough House statement, containing a series of steps to address the situation in Zimbabwe. "It is a matter of regret that six months after our London meeting little substantive progress has yet been made in implementing those steps," Mr Howard said. "Instead, conditions in Zimbabwe have continued to deteriorate. All troika members are anxious to see progress in Zimbabwe and its earliest possible return to full protection of Commonwealth democratic values. I know that all three leaders comprising the troika will be working together with determination to achieve this." At the recent Earth Summit in Johannesburg, Mr Mugabe accused Britain, Australia and the United States of neo-colonialism, telling British Prime Minister Tony Blair: "Keep your England and let me keep my Zimbabwe." Top Comment from The Zimbabwe Independent, 13 September Truth gets out Iden Wetherell We say goodbye to another fine journalist this week. Griffin Shea of Agence France-Presse who has worked in Zimbabwe for two years has been refused a renewal of his work permit. This comes as no surprise. Information minister Jonathan Moyo told AFP director Denis Hiault when he came to Zimbabwe in July that the permits of non-resident employees of news bureaux like AFP would not be renewed on expiry. This is part of his general crackdown on the media. Moyo this week sought to justify the government's move by fatuously claiming that Shea, who is American, would not be allowed to help the US topple Zanu PF from power. Needless to say, Shea had shown no such inclination. AFP is French, not American, and the government has always sought to portray the Quai d'Orsay as sympathetic to its misrule. I shall be interested to see what excuse Moyo trots out when he declines to renew the AFP's French bureau chief's permit in November. Shea, as far as I know, did nothing in particular to offend Moyo but is nevertheless the target of his childish abuse. Nobody has been "screaming" over the non-renewal of Shea's permit, as Moyo suggested. Just a sober statement from RSF. And nobody will believe Moyo's claim that Zimbabwe is a "constitutional democracy underpinned by the rule of law". The evidence overwhelmingly points to a lawless state scared of the truth. "We are not a Banana Republic wanting to please foreign journalists," Moyo told the Herald. "In this case our law is clear. No foreigner should be resident here as a journalist." He is evidently ignorant of the terms of his own legislation which make it possible for a permanent resident of Zimbabwe to continue working as a journalist. It was one of several amendments to the draft Bill forced on him in January. But I was interested to see that in the same article the Herald is claiming there is "some legal ambiguity" about whether there are one or more classes of permanent resident. This is of course completely untrue. The law is unambiguous on the status of a permanent resident. But what we have here is an indication of what the AG's office will attempt to argue in a forthcoming case as it wriggles on a hook of Moyo's own making. The refusal by government to extend Shea's work permit is part of a futile attempt to prevent the bad news about Zimbabwe getting out. But so long as the government behaves badly and enacts bad laws, it will get the press it deserves - in most cases. Some foreign correspondents who are allowed to travel freely to Zimbabwe have leant over backwards to provide what they believe is balanced reporting of events here. For instance, the New York Times reported last week that it had been a good week for President Mugabe. He was cheered at the Johannesburg Earth Summit, the paper said, while Colin Powell was jeered. It quoted him attacking farmers as "greedy, greedy, greedy colonials". "Mr Mugabe is criticised in the West for encouraging blac ks to invade white-owned farms, for hounding journalists and judges, and for jailing opposition party leaders. But to some leaders, particularly in Africa, he is a hero," the paper reported. Only much further down the article do we gather from Tendai Biti that some Africans - such as Zimbabweans - might also oppose his policies. President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal and UN secretary-general Kofi Annan have urged officials in Harare to respect the rule of law, we are told. But Mugabe has dismissed such criticism as "nonsense", the New York Times says, concluding with a quote from the president claiming: "We brought democracy to this country. We brought freedom. We brought human rights." The claim goes unchallenged. The New York Times in May carried an equally "balanced" report on Moyo's media crackdown. "Government officials say the moves are necessary to stop irresponsible journalists from filing false reports that have damaged Zimbabwe's reputation," it reported. Among those arrested was American journalist Andrew Meldrum, it noted. Wayne Bvudzijena was quoted as saying journalists were "trying to do down with the government". The paper said the Zimbabwean media was highly polarised. "The government-run media typically report negative stories about the leading opposition party…The privately-owned media typically report negative stories about the government…" Commenting on the New York Times' one-dimensional view of the media conflict, Meldrum told the Committee to Protect Journalists in New York that the article made it appear that there was an evenly-matched, two-sided struggle instead of a battle to keep the free press alive. "By taking the approach that 'on the one hand this and on the other hand that', the article neutralises the importance of this struggle to keep a free press alive in Zimbabwe," Meldrum pointed out. "This description of a 'tit-for-tat' reporting feud trivialises what is happening here. It makes it appear that it is a fair contest where both sides throw mud at each other," Meldrum said. "As I know you are aware," he told the CPJ, "the privately-owned press is battling against great odds to report about human rights abuses, corruption, economic collapse and a breakdown of the rule of law. These are not merely negative stories, they are the very stories that an independent press is supposed to do to hold a government accountable," Meldrum said. "Equally, the government press is not simply reporting negative stories about the opposition," he said. "The state-owned press is carrying out a shrill propaganda campaign that vilifies anyone or any group that dares to stand up and criticise the government." The New York Times' article reported on the new press law without raising any questions as to its suitability in a democracy, he pointed out. "It makes it seem perfectly ordinary that to make a factual error should be a crime." Meldrum, as we know, won his court case. The Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act proved a defective weapon in the government's clumsy hands. But the government's vindictive campaign against all journalists who refuse to submit to its threats or blandishments will continue. Griffin Shea's name will now be added to the rollcall of foreign correspondents booted out because they refused to camouflage Mugabe's misrule. But, with the exception of occasional indulgences, is our rogue ruler getting a better press as a result of this crackdown? It doesn't seem so. The truth has an inconvenient habit of finding its way out! Top From The Sunday Times (SA), 15 September Ailing ex-judge in the dock Carmel Rickard and Silas Dube A Former Zimbabwean judge arrested in a Friday pre-dawn raid was yesterday hauled before a Harare court in handcuffs and under police guard. Fergus Blackie, 65, who retired allegedly under government pressure earlier this year, five years before retirement age, was picked up from his Harare home at 4am on Friday. Despite frantic attempts by his family and legal representatives, he could not be located. His lawyers finally went to court and were granted an order on Friday night that he would have to be produced in court yesterday morning. Blackie was brought to court in the back of a police vehicle in handcuffs and under heavy police guard. An urgent application for his release was to be argued last night. Anthony Brooks, one of Blackie's lawyers, said the retired judge had not been given any medication, which he has to take after every few hours, since his arrest. "He is in very bad shape because he has not eaten anything since his arrest on Friday morning. The combined effects of the hunger and lack of medication is having a very serious effect on him," the lawyer said. He is being charged for breaching the Prevention of Corruption Act or alternatively, defeating the course of justice. These charges allegedly arise in connection with an appeal he heard before his retirement, concerning a theft conviction which he overturned. Blackie made himself unpopular with the government when, shortly before taking early retirement, he ordered the arrest of the Minister of Justice, Patrick Chinamasa, for contempt of court. Lawyers in South Africa and Zimbabwe have both condemned Harare's action against Blackie as dangerous and unprecedented. "If a judge can be picked up and effectively disappear at the hands of the Zimbabwean police, then how much more dangerous must life be for the ordinary people in Zimbabwe," a senior South African lawyer commented. Top From Reuters, 14 September Zim judge gets sent back to detention Harare - A retired white Zimbabwean judge, who was arrested on Friday on charges of misconduct while on the bench, was sent back into detention on Saturday after a brief court appearance. Former High Court Judge Fergus Blackie has previously clashed with President Robert Mugabe and hit the headlines this summer after ordering the arrest of the justice minister. He is the seventh judge in 15 months to step down from the bench which has accused Mugabe of undermining judicial independence. Mugabe has accused the judiciary of being "white-controlled and white-serving". Blackie was brought to court by police on Saturday after an application by his lawyers that the authorities must prove he was safe. Police Chief Superintendent Bothwell Mugariri said Blackie, 65, was under investigation and could face criminal prosecution for irregularly overturning the conviction of a white woman on fraud charges. Zimbabwe's official Herald newspaper reported on Friday that in May Blackie allegedly quashed the conviction and set aside an effective one-year jail sentence without consulting a black judge who heard the woman's appeal with him. Blackie was arrested at dawn on Friday on corruption charges or alternatively, defeating the course of justice. His lawyers said on Saturday that Blackie was innocent. Blackie declined to speak to journalists, but one of his lawyers, Raphael Costa, said they would be filing another court application for his release. Blackie retired as a High Court judge in July, but just before his departure he ordered the arrest of Zimbabwe's Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa for contempt of court. The Supreme Court later set aside Blackie's ruling that Chinamasa was in contempt of court for his public condemnation of a sentence passed by another judge three years ago. Chinamasa said Blackie's ruling was "a hostile parting shot against the executive which should not be tolerated" and Information Jonathan Moyo lashed out at Blackie for making his ruling in the absence of Chinamasa, accusing him of racism. The government was also incensed by the judiciary after the country's Supreme Court ruled against its seizures of white-owned farms for blacks. Mugabe, 78, and Zimbabwe's ruler since the former Rhodesia gained independence from Britain in 1980, is battling a deep political and economic crisis blamed on his controversial policies. Critics say Mugabe has targeted the judiciary, the private media and human rights campaigners in a drive against growing opposition to his government. Top From News24 (SA), 14 September Zim police arrest journalist Harare - Zimbabwe police have arrested a journalist with a private daily paper days after he wrote a story alleging the country's police chief was in poor health, the state-run news agency said Saturday. Ziana quoted Norman Mlambo, the editor of the Daily Mirror saying journalist Tawanda Majoni was in police custody, but said he did not know on what charge. The paper had reported Majoni missing in its Friday edition, Ziana said. Majoni wrote an article in the first edition of the recently-launched paper alleging Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri was unhealthy and unfit for duty. The report was immediately dismissed by Chihuri as untrue. Contacted for comment, police spokesperson Bothwell Mugariri told AFP he was not aware of the reporter's arrest. The Daily Mirror article prompted an angry response from Information Minister Jonathan Moyo. He was quoted as saying that if the paper's editor could not run "a professional paper, the law will have to assist him." Under tough press laws introduced this year, publishing false information is punishable by a stiff fine, a prison sentence, or both. Top From News24 (SA), 14 September More Zim farmers arrested Harare - Ten white farmers have been arrested in southern Zimbabwe for defying an order to leave their land and make way for new black settlers, a farming crisis group said Friday. "Ten farmers were arrested this morning," said John Worswick, the vice-chairperson of Justice for Agriculture (JAG). "They're in custody now, and are being held over the weekend," he said. He said the 10, all sugar cane farmers in the Chiredzi area, planned to challenge government eviction orders that had been served on them in the courts next week. Police spokesperson Bothwell Mugariri could not immediately confirm the arrests. Last month more than 306 farmers were arrested for defying government orders to leave their land. Worswick also said that three farmers in the Tengwe district of northwestern Zimbabwe were barricaded inside their homes and were under pressure by "war veterans and settlers" to pay their workers severance packages. The government has embarked on a massive land redistribution exercise that has so far seen 95% of white-owned land compulsorily acquired for redistribution to landless blacks. Top From IRIN (UN), 13 September Focus on links with Libya Johannesburg - Libya has renewed a US $360 million financing facility for Zimbabwe to cover the importation of fuel for another year, as queues formed this week outside filling stations in the capital, Harare, amid fears of petrol shortages. The state-run The Herald newspaper reported that the deal was signed on Monday, following a visit to Libya by President Robert Mugabe. The Zimbabwean delegation included Finance and Economic Development Minister Herbert Murerwa, Energy and Power Development Minister Amos Midzi, and Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe chief executive Gideon Gono. The Herald said the financing facility, a repeat of last year's agreement, involved the Libyan Arab Foreign Bank, the Libyan Arab Investment Company and the state oil company Tamoil. The facility would deliver quarterly tranches of $90 million as part of a "trade, investment and fuel supply" agreement. Tamoil reportedly supplies about 70 percent of Zimbabwe's fuel needs, with the remainder provided by the Independent Petroleum Group of Kuwait. However, analysts said it remained unclear what Tripoli wins in return for the financial lifeline to Zimbabwe, which is suffering severe foreign exchange shortages and has almost zero aid flows. Murerwa, who signed the agreement with his Libyan counterpart Ageli Breni, was quoted as saying that Libya would "invest in the mining, tourism and agricultural sectors and infrastructure development in the oil industry". The independent Financial Gazette reported that Libya would enter joint ventures in Zimbabwe and reopen gold mines that had closed as a result of the country's economic difficulties. "Libya is looking for investment in hotels, tourism and the service sector. They are trading equity stakes for repayment of the loans. But the difficulty is giving them stakes that are remotely close to the financial commitments they have made," Patrick Smith, editor of the London-based newsletter Africa Confidential, told IRIN. The nature of the Zimbabwean economy, with close links to South African private industry, limits how far the Libyans can buy in. "That leaves Zimbabwe with only the option of privatising chunks of the economy for the benefit of Libyan interests," Smith added. The new financing agreement cements Libya's growing involvement in Zimbabwe, despite reports that the north African country had been pressing hard for repayment of earlier loans. According to Ahmed Rajab, editor of the London-based newsletter Africa Analysis, behind the new-found friendship between the two geographically distant countries is a shared anti-West ideology, with both regarding themselves as part of a "progressive, pro-liberation, anti-imperialist front". Smith noted that Zimbabwe in the past had reservations over Libya's role in Africa. Harare, for example, had been a long-standing supporter of the Sudanese People's Liberation Army, whereas Tripoli has backed the Sudanese government. "But as Mugabe has had more and more problems with the West, [Libyan leader Mu'ammar] al-Qadhafi has made himself more and more useful. [There is now] a web of commercial, economic, political, diplomatic and security connections," Smith said. Top From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 14 September All eyes on vital Nepad meeting New York - Leaders of nine African nations and scores of high-ranking world diplomats will meet next week to discuss the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad), an ambitious plan created by Africans to advance economic development. The presidents of Nigeria, South Africa, Algeria, Senegal, Ghana, Gabon, Lesotho, Zambia and Botswana, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien and scores of foreign ministers will attend the one-day meeting Monday in New York to show support for Nepad. A key point of the plan is to reward African nations that have succeeded in economic reforms with new development assistance. For decades, financial institutions and Western governments have been pumping aid into African countries whose economies have continued to falter. The plan replaces previous schemes worked out by the United Nations to assist Africa. One such scheme, the UN New Agenda for the Development of Africa (UN-Nadaf), adopted in 1991, failed after it was found out that it resulted in poorer economic performances. An international panel this last summer said UN-Nadaf will be terminated at the end of 2002, having failed to reach the objective of bringing an annual average of six percent economic growth in gross national products to African nations. The panel, headed by Ghana's former finance minister Kwesi Botchwey, recommended that the world community should support Nepad instead. Nepad also received support at the summit of the world's eight most industrialised countries, or G-8, in June in Calgary, Canada. Under UN-Nadaf's 10-year existence, 80 million more Africans found themselves living in poverty, and it failed to generate international support. The growth rate throughout most of the decade hovered around three percent. A UN programme created in 1986, preceding UN-Nadaf, also failed. African leaders have said that for Nepad to succeed, the continent needs peace, security and good governance; improved economic and corporate governance; and regional cooperation and integration. They are also seeking an annual seven percent economic growth rate in Africa, a halving of poverty by 2015 and $64-billion in international aid to support that growth. Government contributions to development in poor countries fell from more than $28-billion in 1990 to $16,38-billion in 2000. Top From The Daily News, 13 September Government mulls laws to deal with opposition MPs By Luke Tamborinyoka Patrick Chinamasa, the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, on Wednesday told Parliament the government would soon come up with comprehensive measures to deal with opposition MPs who walk out of the House. Chinamasa was responding to a question by Chirumanzu MP, Innocent Chikiyi, on whether there was no law to deal with MPs who boycott the President’s speech. "This is a clear lack of patriotism on the part of the MDC and it is a cause of concern for the nation," Chinamasa said, amid jeering by opposition MPs. "They did not only boycott the opening session but they have been going around the country and all over the world, lobbying for sanctions and military intervention by other countries. We are looking into ways and means against MPs who exhibit evidence of unpatriotism when they have sworn an oath of loyalty to the country," he said. The MDC MPs walked out again when debate on the President’s speech resumed soon after Chinamasa had threatened the government would take action against them. The MPs first walked out when President Mugabe officially opened the third session of the fifth parliament in July. They said they would not listen to his speech because their party’s position was that President Mugabe was not the legitimately elected leader of Zimbabwe. The MDC is challenging Mugabe’s victory in the High Court, citing massive rigging and intimidation. The MPs again walked out on Tuesday when debate on President Mugabe’s speech started. Later, Chinamasa skirted a question by Pumula-Luveve MP, Esaph Mdlongwa, on why Mugabe had increased the size of the Cabinet when the government had no money. Three ministries were also formed. "The number of deputy ministers has increased from nine to 12 and this is at a time when the workers of this country are heavily taxed. These deputy ministers do not act in the absence of Cabinet ministers and they do not attend Cabinet meetings. We wonder why they are being increased," Mdlongwa said. Chinamasa said he would not respond because the issue had nothing to do with government policy. Top From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 16 September Zimbabwe takes revenge on judge Harare - A Zimbabwean judge refused on Sunday to release a retired colleague who has been jailed since Friday and accused of bias against President Robert Mugabe's government, the jailed judge's lawyers said. High Court Judge Benjamin Hlatshwayo rejected pleas that police had no grounds for suspecting irregularities in retired High Court Judge Feargus Blackie's last judgments before he left the bench in July, said Raphael Costa, Blackie's lawyer. One of Blackie's last acts as a judge was to sentence Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa to three months in jail on contempt of court charges after the minister repeatedly ignored a court summons. Chinamasa ignored the ruling and police refused to arrest him in what was seen as further evidence of a breakdown of the rule of law in Zimbabwe. Blackie, a 65-year-old with a heart condition, spent the weekend in a dirty jail in Harare, his lawyers said. For 24 hours after his arrest shortly before dawn Friday, Blackie was held incommunicado, without food and in freezing conditions. By Sunday, his lawyers were eventually allowed to bring him food, warm clothing and medication. They will demand a bail hearing on Monday before a lower court, Costa said. Arrests in Zimbabwe are often carried out on Fridays to force suspects to spend the weekend in overcrowded and filthy police cells before a court hearing can be held. Blackie's arrest was seen as part of a continuing crackdown against judges, reporters and activists deemed critical of Mugabe's increasingly authoritarian rule. The government has accused many white judges, including Blackie, of bias against it. State media have said Blackie was being investigated on suspicion that he was racially biased when he overturned a one-year jail sentence imposed on a white woman convicted of theft. His lawyers said on Sunday Blackie was not guilty of bias, but there had been a clerical mix-up in the case. Zimbabwe has been wracked by more than two years of political and economic turmoil, marked by a violent crackdown against the opposition and government efforts to seize 5 000 white-owned farms for redistribution to blacks. Seven of the country's 30 senior judges have quit or retired in just over a year. All were considered independent thinkers who had come under pressure from the government and ruling party militants to toe the party line. Top From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 15 September Zim govt's weekend crackdown on critics Harare - As Zimbabwe forges ahead with a crackdown against its alleged critics, a journalist arrested this week just days after writing an article claiming the country's police chief was unfit for duty, was charged with contravening the Police Act. The crackdown includes Saturday's arrest of a white farmer who failed to heed an eviction order and the imprisonment of recently retired judge Fergus Blackie. State-run ZBC television reported late on Saturday that the arrested journalist, Tawanda Majoni, a former policeman, had "not properly resigned from the force" before getting a job with the recently-launched Daily Mirror newspaper. He was arrested on Thursday and released Saturday facing charges of contravening the Police Act, police representative Wayne Bvudzijena told ZBC. ZBC said investigations were prompted by an article Majoni wrote in the Daily Mirror's first edition alleging that Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri w as unhealthy and unfit for duty. The report was dismissed by Chihuri as untrue and prompted an angry response from Information Minister Jonathan Moyo who said that if the paper's editor could not run "a professional paper, the law will have to assist him". Under tough press laws introduced this year, publishing false information is punishable by a stiff fine, a prison sentence, or both. The state-controlled Sunday Mail reported that Majoni is expected to appear before a police hearing. Meanwhile the shaken looking former High Court Judge Fergus Blackie (65) appeared in court on Saturday as his lawyers appealed for a bail hearing. Lawyers for Blackie said he spent the night in an overcrowded prison cell. The layers allege that he was denied food, warm clothes, and his blood pressure medication. They dismissed as "preposterous" charges against Blackie of obstructing justice. Meanwhile a sugarcane farmer, Theo Engels, was arrested for defying a government order to hand over his land to the government as part of controversial land reform programme, said Jenni Williams, representative for a farmers support group, Justice for Agriculture. The government has targeted 95% of white-owned farms for seizure and redistribution to blacks. A deadline for the first 2 900 evictions passed August 8, but many farmers ignored it and others were fighting it in court. Twelve other farmers were arrested earlier this week for defying the government eviction orders and more than 300 other farmers had been charged with defying the order to leave their land. President Robert Mugabe said he is trying to remedy colonial-era inequalities by redistributing the commercial farms to landless blacks, but many of the biggest farms have gone to his confidantes instead. Before the seizures began two years ago, 4 500 whites owned a third of Zimbabwe's farmland, while seven million blacks lived on the rest. Some of the country's more independent minded judges have also been accused of working against the state. Blackie, the former high court judge, had repeatedly clashed with President Robert Mugabe's government in human rights and corruption cases. In July, Blackie sentenced Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa to three months in jail on contempt of court charges after the minister repeatedly ignored a court summons. Chinamasa ignored the ruling and police refused to arrest him in what was seen as further evidence of a breakdown of the rule of law in Zimbabwe. Critics say the government ignores court rulings it dislikes while using sweeping new security and media laws to crack down on opponents, judges and the free press. The southern African country has been wracked by more than two years of political and economic turmoil, marked by a violent crackdown against the opposition and government seizures of white-owned farms. Top From The Sunday Tribune (SA), 15 September Gaddafi scores big in Zim oil deal By Bafana Shezi President Robert Mugabe agreed to sign over more of Zimbabwe's assets to Libya's Muammar Gaddafi this week in exchange for the oil which his hard cash-strapped country now desperately needs. Zimbabwe almost ran out of fuel again this week and long fuel queues formed around the main urban centres, forcing Mugabe hurriedly to pay his umpteenth visit to Libya to beg Gaddafi to resume oil supplies. They were recently discontinued by Libya's national oil firm, Tamoil, because the Zimbabwe government had not paid its bills. Zimbabwe now relies almost entirely on Libya for fuel under a US$360-million deal signed last year in which Mugabe offered Gaddafi investments in Zimbabwe in part exchange for fuel. But Zimbabwe is also supposed to pay some cash for the oil, which it has failed to do. The Zimbabwe government now owes Libya nearly US$100-million, according to official sources. This week Gaddafi demanded more assets in payment for his oil. The Zimbabwe Independent on Saturday said Mugabe this week signed a new contract with Libya in Tripoli which grants Libya more prime assets in Zimbabwe to pay for the unpaid oil. The Independent Foreign Service separately confirmed a report by the Zimbabwe Independent that Gaddafi wants among other things a controlling stake in the Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe (CBZ). The controlling stake in CBZ however belongs to South Africa's Absa Bank. Gaddafi already has a 14 percent stake in CBZ as part of the fuel deal signed last year. The Zimbabwe government remains a minority shareholder. Gaddafi wants to control the well-managed CBZ and use it to handle the investments he has envisaged across sub-saharan Africa. It was not clear how Mugabe could persuade Absa to relinquish its 35% majority stake in favour of Gaddafi. The IFS also learnt that Gaddafi wants Mugabe to expel major mining companies in Zimbabwe so he can take over their mining operations instead of starting entirely new explorations as envisaged under the oil deal signed last year. Gaddafi was particularly interested in the platinum mine opened by Australia's BHP in Chegutu, 106km south-west of Harare. The Australian firm later pulled out, citing operational problems but it was immediately taken over by another mainly Australian firm, Zimplats. Mugabe has repeatedly threatened to seize mines and other firms operated by foreign companies but has not yet done so. However, his rampaging war veterans have invaded mines and other foreign owned firms accused of "underpaying" workers, among other things. At least four major gold mines have closed voluntarily in frustration. Reports say Mugabe has also awarded Gaddafi vast tracts of farmland under last year's oil deal. However, it has not been established how much land and where it is. Sources said "land handouts" alone could not be the basis of any oil deals. Top From The Guardian (UK), 16 September Zimbabwe expels foreign journalist Andrew Meldrum in Harare President Robert Mugabe's government intensified its campaign against the independent media at the weekend, expelling one of the last foreign correspondents remaining in the country. Griffin Shea of Agence France-Presse, was forced to leave Zimbabwe on Saturday when the government refused to renew his work permit. "No foreigner should be resident here as a journalist," the information minister, Jonathan Moyo, said. "We have made it clear that they can only be here for a limited period, in fact, the limited period is 30 days." Mr Moyo suggested that Mr Shea, an American citizen, was working with the US government to overthrow the Mugabe regime. "The government was not prepared to renew Shea's permit so that he would work with the US to topple it from power," Mr Moyo said, according to the state-owned Sunday Mail newspaper. Mr Shea dismissed the allegation as completely unfounded. "This is another example of government's crackdown on the independent media in Zimbabwe," Mr Shea said as he left Zimbabwe. "It's not just journalists who are affected. The government is using the same heavy handed approach against the judiciary, the opposition party and civil society in general. It is heartbreaking to have to go but I am more concerned that my colleagues here are going to have to work under increasingly difficult circumstances." Two weeks ago the offices of the independent broadcaster Voice of the People were destroyed by a firebomb. A Zimbabwean journalist, Tawanda Majoni, was held overnight at the weekend after he wrote a story for the Daily Mirror alleging that the police commissioner was unfit for duty due to ill health. He was released without charges. The government also jailed a retired high court justice, Fergus Blackie, at the weekend. Mr Blackie, 65 and in failing health, stepped down from the bench in July. He was arrested on suspicion of "defeating the course of justice" by improperly ordering the release of a white woman jailed on embezzlement charges. The action is widely seen as an act of retribution because Mr Blackie sentenced the minister of justice, Patrick Chinamasa, to two months in jail in July for contempt of court. The minister did not go to jail and his conviction was later overturned. The crackdown on journalists and judges coincides with campaigning for local council elections. More than half the opposition candidates have been forced to drop out by threats, beatings and torture by government supporters, according to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. Top From The Advertiser (Australia), 15 September PM may face Mugabe By Debra Way and Philippa Bourke Prime Minister John Howard could come face to face with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in a meeting to decide if the African country should be expelled from the Commonwealth. Mr Howard will fly to Nigeria next weekend to join other members of the Commonwealth leaders' troika on Zimbabwe in considering sanctions against the Mugabe government. Mugabe has ignored international pressure to reform Zimbabwe's economy and political processes after electoral corruption and human rights abuses. White farmers have been driven off their farms by independence war veterans, leading to greatly reduced rural production and fears of famine in a country once a food exporter. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, speaking after a meeting in New York with Commonwealth foreign ministers, said it was possible Mr Mugabe might attend next weekend's talks. "President Obasanjo's confident that President Mugabe will come to the meeting ... we haven't had any confirmation of that, though," Mr Downer told reporters. "We're going there with an open mind about what the Commonwealth could do. We're going to the meeting acknowledging there is an enormous problem and the Commonwealth needs to do more to address it." Mr Downer did not confirm what action the Commonwealth might take, although the troika does have the option of expelling Zimbabwe. "The Commonwealth would have a range of things it could do," he said. "But the important thing here is the Commonwealth Heads Of Government Meeting held in Coolum in Australia in March gave the troika ... the authority to manage this issue of Zimbabwe. What the troika has done so far at a meeting in London a few months ago is to suspend Zimbabwe from the councils of the Commonwealth. And some countries individually have imposed so-called smart sanctions, United Kingdom, New Zealand, one or two others perhaps. What other measures the troika may come up with, I don't know that I want to canvass here." Labor's foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd said Australia should slap smart sanctions on Zimbabwe immediately and should have done so six months ago. Mr Rudd said the government promised earlier this year that if Zimbabwe's elections were fraudulent Australia would impose targeted sanctions. "We should have done so six months ago, we must do so now," Mr Rudd told the 10 network. He said as a Commonwealth election observer to Zimbabwe he was in no doubt Mugabe had been elected through violent and fraudulent means. "Once again we've got some evidence here that the foreign minister and the prime minister are not leading the debate around the world on Zimbabwe, they are following the debate," he said. Australian Democrats interim leader Brian Greig also said Australia should have acted earlier. "I would have much preferred that Australia took action much earlier," he told reporters in Canberra. "I regret that it has got to this point." Top Comment from The Zimbabwe Standard, 15 September Going forward, albeit slowly Over the top by Brian Latham Citizens of a troubled central African country have realised that, despite continuing problems, they are moving forward. Despite this, most complained that the speed of forward movement was, at best, painfully slow. Of course, all this forward movement; in bread queues, sugar queues, salt queues, cooking oil queues, mealie meal queues, petrol queues, passport queues and airport queues, was not necessarily a good thing. Well, except the airport queues, because people in that queue were queuing in order to escape to some place where they didn’t have to queue. Still, forward movement is forward movement and the government trying, largely unsuccessfully, to govern the troubled central African country has been quick to point out that orderly queues, especially forward moving ones, are a sign of a population of peace loving comrade citizens deeply in awe of their most equal of all comrades. Of course, they have to be, because as the most equal of all comrades said rather succinctly at a recent junket, he owns them. "This is my confused central African country," he said, "and just you leave it alone." Contrary to rumour in the streets of the troubled central African country, the most equal of all comrades did not say that if his people chose to queue like sheep, they were free to do so. This can be refuted with absolute certainty because the most equal of all comrades has never said his people are free to do anything. However, he has blamed the need for queues on white people, homosexuals, British people, American people and various other deviants - though his troubled population has not yet been able to see how this is possible. No doubt this is because the most equal of all comrades has a staggering intellect and is miles ahead of the rest of us, which is why we belong to him and not the other way around ­ as happens in those imperialist democracies that keep saying libellous things about the most equal of all comrades. Meanwhile, the party’s very own police force in the troubled central African country mounted an operation to thwart hoarding by all whites, foreigners and deviants bent on economic sabotage. So successful was the operation that quantities of food were recovered from a United Nations organisation involved in the seditious business of children’s welfare. Uncovering the plot, the party’s very own police force crowed that this was proof of the bias of foreigners plotting to overthrow the paranoid government of the troubled central African country. Meanwhile, the minister of load-shedding and intermittent fuel supplies denied there was a fuel shortage, blaming the long queues on hoarders. He said a year’s supply of fuel had just been sourced from good friends in Libya in exchange for undisclosed things like mines, banks and farms - should there be any left after the current allocation to very senior (but still almost equal) comrades who were currently deciding which ones they wanted for themselves. The minister denied that the troubled central African country had been mortgaged to the rich Libyan dictator and strongly refuted rumours that the troubled central African country was soon to be renamed Libya II. "I can emphatically say none of this is true. These are rumours put out by people who would like to see this troubled central African country become a puppet of the imperialist democracies of the northern hemisphere. That will never happen here as we are already a puppet of an Islamic tyranny in north Africa," he said, pointing out that the country couldn’t belong to two separate powers and, anyway, the most equal of all comrades had already indicated he owned the whole place and was therefore entitled to sell it to whom he chose. Top From IOL Online (SA), 16 September Get going, Zim tells Mugabe in new poll Harare - Most Zimbabweans want 78-year-old President Robert Mugabe, who has spent 22 years at the helm of the southern African country, to retire, according to the results of a survey released on Monday. The survey by the Mass Public Opinion Institute (MPOS), a Harare-based think-tank, said 65,6 percent of the 1 768 respondents in a random survey wanted Mugabe to immediately announce his retirement plans. According to the survey, even respondents in areas that support Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF party wanted the long-time leader to announce that he plans to stand down. The survey, conducted four months after Mugabe's disputed election victory in March, also showed that 44,9 percent of the respondents want a re-run of the disputed election. But the "majority of respondents favour dialogue and not confrontation as a way of solving the country's problems", it added. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change claimed that its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, had won the March presidential poll but had victory stolen from him by widespread fraud and state-sponsored violence. According to the MPOS survey, a total of 48,5 percent of respondents want a government of national unity, while 46,5 percent favour a resumption of stalled talks between Zanu PF and the MDC, aimed at resolving the row over the March vote. Talks between the two parties were suspended earlier this year when the MDC challenged the outcome of the vote in the Supreme Court. Despite Mugabe dismissing strong criticism from Western countries of his government's controversial policies, "...an impressive 82 percent said Zimbabwe cannot survive without the co-operation and assistance of the international community", the survey said in its conclusions. Respondents placed Zimbabwe's beleaguered economy at the top of a list of priorities for the government. Mugabe is presiding over the southern African nation's worst-ever economic crisis, with an estimated 80 percent of the population living in poverty. Improving international relations, drawing up a new constitution and resolving the country's land issue ranked second, third and fourth in priority, the survey's respondents said. Mugabe has staked his political fortunes on a controversial scheme to resettle white-owned farms with landless blacks that critics and aid agencies have warned will worsen a critical food shortage already threatening half the country's population of some 11,4 million. "It would appear that the position taken by the Zimbabwean government in respect of the region and the international community is contrary to public thinking," MPOS commented in the conclusions of its survey. Top From The Daily News, 16 September Survey shows more people voted for MDC Staff Reporter A survey conducted four months after the disputed pres