WOZA members released

via All Africa.com:

The seven members arrested in Bulawayo on Wednesday have finally been released on bail of USD 20 each. They have been remanded out of custody to 3rd July and have to report to their nearest police station every Friday.... Fortunately Kossam Ncube, the defence lawyer, was able to secure their release by late afternoon. All were beaten prior to being arrested and have needed to seek medical attention for deep tissue bruising.

The four members in Harare have also finally been able to go home having received medical treatment. One woman has a broken finger, whilst another two are on crutches as they are unable to walk unaided. Maria Majoni has to return for further medical treatment for injuries to her ear. All have severe deep tissue bruising.

Police assault news photographer

from the Zimbabwean:

Regis Nyandima, a chief photographer with the state-controlled national daily The Herald was on 18 June 2009 assaulted by police in Harare while covering a demonstration by members of the pressure group Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA).

Nyandima was arrested and assaulted by some of the policemen who disrupted the demonstration saying it was illegal. He was bundled into a police Mazda B1800 truck and subsequently assaulted. According to The Herald, a senior officer at Harare Central Police Station apologised to the newspaper for the assault and said they would look into the issue.
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hmmm...the state controlled media is starting to report news...sounds like a good sign.

Local SA firms lend money to Zim

From Bloomberg via africasources:


South African companies were willing to provide Zimbabwe with a R2.75 billion credit line once the ailing country had signed an investment protection accord, Zimbabwe's Finance Minister Tendai Biti said at the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa in Cape Town on Friday.

South African companies wanting to enter Zimbabwe included Netcare and FirstRand's FNB, Biti said. The investment accord should be signed by the end of this month.

Are Angry ancestors behind those car accidents?

The LATimes has an article about car accidents and the idea that the angry ancestors might be behind them...

Much of the article is good, but even I got confused about the part of "traditional leaders" and failure to do rituals...but the ending is about right.



"There are people who think there's spirits. There are no bad spirits. It's just the potholes in the road," he says.

He carries no talisman to ward off evil forces. But he does have one bit of insurance.

"I've been driving this road for years. I know each and every pothole and every uncertainty of the road," he says.

Chisvu, the chief metekedza, sees another solution. He believes just a little more humanity will make things right.

"We have become so politicized that we have turned on each other," he says. "There's no love."

Zim accused of continuing rights abuse

from the LATimes:

Reporting from Johannesburg, South Africa -- Amnesty International reported Thursday that serious human rights abuses continue in Zimbabwe and criticized members of President Robert Mugabe's ruling party, saying they regard violence as a useful political tool.... "Ending attacks on human rights defenders, lifting restrictions on the media and allowing public protests do not require more money. They only require political will," she said in a statement. "Progress on human rights has been woefully slow."



Amnesty International's report underscores Western concerns about the continuing power of spoilers in Mugabe's party.

"Persistent and serious human rights violations, combined with a failure to introduce reform of the police, army and security forces or address impunity and the lack of clear commitment on some parts of the government are real obstacles that need to be confronted by the leadership of Zimbabwe," Khan said.

Africa is improving

From StrategyPage:

...June 17, 2009: Africa is winning against war and poverty. While Africa is still the site of most of the word's wars, the trend since the early 1990s (when the Cold War ended) has been towards less war and more peace and prosperity. Thus while there were only five democracies in 1991, there are over 25 (depending on how you measure such things) now....

Africa is still beset by corruption, disease and poverty. But while the 1980s were a decade where everything seemed to be going wrong, the first decade of the 20th century has seen most of those trends reverse...

Internet problems

Internet off due to storms...
It is monsoon season...

Obama pledges 73 million to Zim

from the Washington Post:

President Obama announced today that the United States will provide $73 million in aid to Zimbabwe, saying the economically-wracked nation has made progress since Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai entered a power-sharing arrangement with longtime President Robert Mugabe four months ago....

The $73 million in assistance will not be going to the government but directly to services for citizens, Obama said, because "we continue to be concerned about consolidating democracy, human rights and rule of law." Obama renewed sanctions against Zimbabwe in March, in an effort to press Mugabe into making changes to improve human rights.

I apologize for lax blogging

we've had on and off electricity and on and off internet for the last week...

Death Threats continue

from the Zimbabwe Times

Sekai Holland, a member of the former opposition MDC, told the BBC opponents of the power-sharing government were drawing up assassination lists.

She said she believed the worst violence was being planned to coincide with elections due in 18 months.

Her comments echo earlier claims by PM Morgan Tsvangirai of ongoing political intimidation and abuses in Zimbabwe.

Holland, Zimbabwe’s Minister for National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration, told the BBC that she and other members of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), including fellow ministers, were receiving threatening phone calls every day....

Obama looking forward to meeting Tsvangirai

from the Zim Guardian

THE US President, Barack Obama says he is looking forward to meeting Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai.

... on Friday, June 12."
...PM Tsvangirai is on a three-week state visit to the EU and US where is meeting leaders of Western nations seeking to re-engage Zimbabwe "into the community of nations".

A report in state media says the PM has been tasked by the inclusive Government to call for the removal of sanctions and seek a financial package to revive the economy.

The PM is on will visit France, Sweden, Britain, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Denmark and the US.

the plight of the 3 million Zim refugees in South Africa

From Medicines sans Frontiers:
go to link please...

Central bank chief must go

from AFP:

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's party bemoaned the slow pace of change in Zimbabwe's fledgling coalition on Sunday, calling for the central bank chief and attorney general to quit immediately....Aware of the conflict and divisive effect of the issues ... conference calls that in the national interest Johannes Tomana and Gideon Gono resign forthwith," the MDC said in resolutions read by secretary-general Tendai Biti, who is also Zimbabwe's finance minister.

Tsvangirai encountered tough resistance within the MDC about entering a power-sharing deal with Mugabe in February and the resolution made clear the party is unhappy about what it sees as a lack of reform and continued intimidation of its supporters by pro-Mugabe militias.

The government must address "the slow pace of media reforms, slow implementation of the government 100-day plan, continued deployment of the military in villages and the existence of militia and ghost workers on the government payroll," it said.

more prisoners die in Zim jails

from SWRadioAfrica


970 this year, six last week.
I'm having computer trouble so please go to link

Zim aid or not to aid

All africa blogger Brian Kennedy at link discusses all the pros and cons.

To Aid or not to aid?N

NYTimes editorial HERE

...The reluctance of Western governments and human rights groups to embrace the current Zimbabwean government is understandable. There is, in particular, no real reason to believe that Mr. Mugabe, after decades of dictatorial rule and abuse, has suddenly embraced multiparty democracy. If he had, after all, he would not be president now.

But Zimbabwe may well be a case where the best is the enemy of the good. Mr. Tsvangirai’s party, the Movement for Democratic Change, went into the unity government with its eyes open. “We had won the election but we did not have the support of the military,” Mr. Tsvangirai told us this month in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital. “We did not want to be the authors of chaos. Instead we need to soft-land the crisis, stabilize the situation through peace and stability and democratic consolidation.” Accordingly, he views Mr. Mugabe as “both part of the problem and part of the solution: we cannot untangle the tentacles of the state without him.”...

Abducted pastor released

from SWRadioAfrica

"...On Tuesday SW Radio Africa received information from an MDC official, stating that another person had been abducted by unknown assailants. The official said Pastor Berejena, who has been a “close spiritual friend of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and has also been a spiritual strength to so many of the victims of political violence over the past 14 months,” was abducted on Monday afternoon by suspected CIO operatives.

Marondera Central MP Ian Kay, a friend of the Pastor, said Berejena was located on Wednesday morning and is now in a safe place. “The details are very vague..."/...



MDC activists say he has been helping victims of political violence for a long time now, after so many were brutalised at the time of the controversial elections of last year. Many victims of this violence have gone without any help and Pastor Berejena was one of the few who has been trying to help some of them.

One MDC activist, speaking on condition of anonymity, said many MDC activists who helped the party and became victims of the Mugabe regime, are now being neglected by their own party. The activist said the situation has worsened since the formation of the unity government, as not much effort is being made by the MDC to help these victims of political violence...

Mugabe stands by bank chief

from the AP:

Mugabe reappointed Gono to a second five-year term in November. Former opposition leader Tsvangirai says that appointment violates his power-sharing deal with Mugabe.

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Cholera cases may hit 100 thousand

from the BBC:

The number of cholera cases in Zimbabwe is expected to reach 100,000 this week, according to the Red Cross....

So far, 98,309 cases have been reported, with some 4,283 deaths, said the Red Cross in a report.

The outbreak, which began last August, has been fuelled by Zimbabwe's poor water, sanitation and health systems....

Some $3.4m (£2.15m) was needed to rehabilitate Zimbabwe's water systems, dig wells and construct latrines, the aid group said.

Why Africa lacks investments

only investments can change Africa into prosperous countries similar to the Asian "tiger" econonmies.

from Geostrategy:

• Rule of law -- The rule of law does not prevail to the degree required to make Africa an attractive investment destination. This applies to corporate, societal, and criminal law
  
  
• Attraction -- While the enormous natural resources are an attraction, Africa does not offer a sufficiently large middle class of consumers or show consistent economic growth that could promise a future market. Most African countries are small and have poor markets, and there are barriers to regional markets--such as taxes and the freedom of movement of people and goods
  
  
• Risks versus rewards-- Given the currently perceived risks in Africa, the rewards have to be very high to make it worthwhile to invest. Presently, U.S. corporations say that there are very few visible promises of future returns high enough to justify significant interest in investing
  
  
• Supportive business framework--Transportation and communications infrastructure, trained or trainable human resources, and equitable trade and employment practices are insufficient to support corporate investment
  
  
• A welcoming environment-- African countries are not doing a sufficient job of providing education and health services to the potential workforce, which makes the potential hire-able local insufficient to support investment.

Following some links in that report, I found that Fabiane’s organization is trying to develop “a new silk road” to Africa - Building the New Silk Road.