Zimbabwe has lifted a ban on political rallies and protests in Harare which the opposition had likened to a state of emergency, but police permits are still required for such gatherings.President Robert Mugabe's government imposed a three-month ban on rallies and demonstrations in February over fears of an opposition uprising in the face of a growing economic crisis, and had renewed the restrictions...
President Robert Mugabe's new push to get tough on the economy may bring short-term political benefits but is likely to leave Zimbabwe in even worse straits as its economic infrastructure collapses.Mugabe, facing the highest inflation rate in the world and simmering political troubles, this week warned that he was ready to nationalise firms accused of "dirty tricks" against his rule,...
Harare - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe told his domestic opponents on Wednesday they had lost their great mentor with the departure from office of his arch enemy, Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair."Those among us ... who have teamed up with the Western governments to try and affect regime change, we have seen how paranoid they have become lately with the imminent departure of their...
Basic commodities had all but disappeared from some shop shelves in Zimbabwe on Wednesday, a day after the authorities ordered a drastic 50 percent price slash. A snap survey in several supermarkets in Harare showed that bread, milk, flour and cooking oil were no longer on the shelves."There's no supplies," a shop assistant said in a supermarket in Harare's Avondale suburb, popular...
President Robert Mugabe on Wednesday threatened to seize foreign companies, including mines, he accused of economic sabotage and of hiking prices as part of a campaign to oust his government. "We will seize the mines ... we will nationalise them if they continue with the dirty tricks," an angry Mugabe said at the burial of a top military officer."All companies, we will take them over...
The mass emigration from Zimbabwe could hurt the country's opposition in next year's election where it hopes to gain some ground on President Robert Mugabe's ruling party, a leading opposition figure said. Thousands of Zimbabweans have fled their country to escape the world's fastest shrinking economy outside a war zone. Today some 2 million out of the country's estimated...
Last year was one of the worst on record for refugees and the crisis is deepening in 2007 thanks to conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and Sudan's Darfur region, the United Nation's refugee chief said. But the accelerating return of refugees to their homes in south Sudan in 2007 - some after more than two decades - is one bright spot in the otherwise bad year, UN High Commissioner for...
As the South African government confirmed for the first time on Monday that Zimbabwe peace talks had started in Pretoria, it emerged that Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe had set tough conditions for engaging in any sustained dialogue. Participants at the first official talks between Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) are keeping a tight lid on...
WOZA leaders, Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu, had their case referred to the Supreme Court on Tuesday by Bulawayo magistrate Rose Sibanda.Williams and Mahlangu, through their counsel, Kossam Ncube had sought to have their case heard in the Supreme Court as it was a Constitutional issue.The two appeared before magistrate Sibanda who agreed to refer the case to the Supreme Court for a constitutional...
Zimbabwe ranked a high fourth in this year's Failed States Index, which measures political, social and economic stability.Sandwiched in the top 10 among war-torn countries, Zimbabwe is behind Sudan, Iraq and Afghanistan.The 2007 Failed States Index, produced by Foreign Policy magazine and the Fund for Peace, said one of the most common causes of failing states was the loss of physical control of...