Links ~ 24 September 2008
September 24th, 2008
AU dismisses worry over Zimbabwe with Mbeki gone (Reuters)
African Union Chairman Jakaya Kikwete on Tuesday dismissed concerns that the ousting of South African President Thabo Mbeki could jeopardize a Zimbabwe power-sharing deal he helped negotiate.
“No cause for alarm, the South African government remains,” and will continue to focus on the issue, Kikwete, who is president of Tanzania, told the U.N. General Assembly.
Mugabe recalls his old Cabinet amid deadlock (Daily Nation)
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has recalled his old Cabinet to fill the vacuum created by delays in the setting up of an inclusive government, a senior aide has announced. The country has been running without a substantive government since Mr Mugabe’s controversial June 27 re-election, further deepening a decade old political and economic crisis.
Plot to oust Mugabe (ZimDaily)
The Mujuru faction met at the weekend to plot the ouster of Robert Mugabe from Zanu (PF), through a vote of no confidence at an emergency meeting, or alternatively at the party’s national conference in December, ZimDaily has learnt.
NCA Statement on the agreement between ZANU PF and MDC on resolving challenges facing Zimbabwe (The Zimbabwean)
The NCA notes that the people of Zimbabwe are in the midst of extreme levels of suffering arising from the disintegration of our social and economic system. There is no food in the country; no jobs for over 90% of Zimbabweans seeking employment; no drugs for the sick; no electricity in homes and industries; no clean water in homes; no learning in schools; no cash in banks. It is a humiliating and painful experience for the people. It is the duty of every Zimbabwean to contribute to both the short-term and long-term solutions to this crisis, and it is in this context that the NCA responds to the Agreement between ZANU PF and the two MDC formations on resolving challenges facing Zimbabwe…
Zimbabwe’s new government has to tackle culture of impunity (Amnesty International)
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe signed a power-sharing agreement with the Movement for Democratic Change’s leaders on Monday, 15 September 2008 in an attempt to resolve the political crisis that has been developing since 2000 and escalated sharply in the last six months. … Amnesty International has said that the validity of the deal would be seriously compromised if it includes amnesties or pardons that prevent human rights violators being brought to justice, the emergence of the truth, and full reparations to victims.
Top Harare Bureaucrats Oppose Power-Sharing (IWPR)
A number of senior civil servants are said to have no intention of cooperating with those members of the Movement for Democratic Change, MDC, who will be appointed to join the new inclusive government. Sources at Munhumutapa Building – which houses the offices of the president, the two vice presidents and the ministries of foreign affairs, finance, and information and publicity – told IWPR that some partisan senior civil servants are uncomfortable with the deal signed between ZANU-PF’s Robert Mugabe and the leaders of the two MDC factions.
Pohamba calls for lifting of sanctions against Zim (Zimbabwe Guardian)
THE Namibian President, Hifikepunye Pohamba has called on Western countries to lift illegal sanctions imposed against Zimbabwe. Pohamba made the call yesterday during his address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Zimbabwe: Buhera Police in Weekend Arrest of 25 MDC Supporters (allAfrica)
It’s business as usual for the police under Mugabe’s regime after officers in Buhera on Saturday arrested around 25 MDC supporters for celebrating the signing of the power sharing deal last Monday.
Zimbabwe: Tortured, raped and forgotten (IRIN)
During the bitterly contested Zimbabwe elections between President Robert Mugabe’s ruling ZANU-PF and Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the country’s rural areas became effective no-go areas. There were numerous reports of politically motivated killings and widespread rapes, allegedly by members of Zimbabwe’s national army, veterans of the country’s liberation war and members of the ruling party’s youth militia. … A power sharing deal has since been negotiated by the former South African President Thabo Mbeki. While the attention has shifted to whether or not the politicians can make the unity government work, the victims of political violence remain traumatised and will never forget the events of 2008. 

IRIN spoke to three women in the eastern province of Manicaland.
Cholera outbreak spreads in Zimbabwe, kills 13 (Afrique en ligne)
Health officials in Zimbabwe said Tuesday a cholera outbreak near the capital, Harare, had spread to other towns, claiming a total of 13 lives. Earlier, health officials had said the cholera outbreak in Chitungwiza, a dormit ory town of the capital, had been contained. However, on Tuesday, the officials said the outbreak was still raging there and had, in fact, spread to Chinhoyi in the north of the country.
Zimbabwe school fees paid in cows (BBC News)
Residents in Zimbabwe’s second city, Bulawayo, have called for government action against a school asking for fees in livestock or fuel coupons. Those who do not have coupons have been asked to deliver 700 litres of fuel. One teacher at Petra High School said it was cash-strapped parents who originally wanted to pay in kind.
Power Shortages Hit Water Supply (IWPR)
Bulawayo residents forced to endure unsanitary conditions due to continued electricity rationing. Long-running power cuts caused by Zimbabwe’s economic turmoil are now affecting the water supply in many cities. Since the beginning of September, residents of the country’s second largest city, Bulawayo, have gone for days at a time without water. In the past week, they have been forced to endure yet another acute shortage.
