Links ~ 30 August 2008
Zimbabwe Lifts Ban on Aid Groups, but Its Effects Linger (New York Times)
Zimbabwe lifted an almost three-month-old ban on the work of aid groups on Friday. [...] The effects of the aid restrictions will linger. The United Nations World Food Program had planned to feed 1.7 million Zimbabweans next month, but was unable to deploy its partners on the ground, the suspended aid groups, to identify and register the needy this month. “We will not be able to reach most of those 1.7 million people,” said Richard Lee, a spokesman for the World Food Program. “We will try to reach as many as possible, but we haven’t even begun to do the essential preparatory work.”
Mugabe party says it will not yield to new opposition demand: report (AfricAsia)
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s party has rejected new demands by the opposition following meetings with South African mediators to get power-sharing talks back on track, state media said Saturday. “The only new but absurd suggestion from the MDC was that the cabinet be co-chaired by President Mugabe and Tsvangirai,” state daily The Herald quoted a source by Mugabe’s ZANU-PF as saying, referring to MDC opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. “ZANU-PF dismissed the suggestion, not just as insolent, but also stunning ignorance on how government works.”
Mbeki urges Zimbabwe negotiators to end talks (SABC)
President Thabo Mbeki has told Zimbabwe’s negotiating parties that the continent is pinning its hopes on them to find a speedy resolution to the political crisis in their country. Talks to secure a power sharing deal continued in Tshwane yesterday.
