Links ~ 16 October 2008

Zimbabwe foes ‘near cabinet deal’ ~ BBC
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe and a top opposition official have said a deal could be reached shortly to name a power-sharing government. One of Mr Mugabe’s officials says changes could be made to the cabinet posts named last week, the state-owned Herald newspaper reports. However, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was less optimistic, saying the talks had been “quite circuitous”.

‘Mugabe not the legal head of state’ ~ IOL
The Southern African Development Community has acknowledged in a legal document that it widely felt concerns that Robert Mugabe should not be recognised as Zimbabwe’s head of state are “legitimate”. Despite this, SADC has rejected a demand that it should refuse to allow Mugabe and his government to participate in SADC activities, as representatives of Zimbabwe. SADC was responding to an application brought by the Zimbabwe Exile Forum (ZEF) in August, asking the SADC Tribunal in Windhoek not to invite Mugabe to the SADC summit which was to take place in Joburg later that month. It also asked that Mugabe and his government be barred from participating in future SADC activities. The ZEF said Mugabe should be barred because he had not been legitimately elected.

Mugabe could back down on key cabinet posts: paper ~ Reuters
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe could back down on the allocation of key ministries to his ruling ZANU-PF party to save a power-sharing deal with the opposition, state media reported on Thursday. “There could be some changes to the list (of ministry allocations) gazetted last week as the parties find each other and make compromises for the sake of progress,” the state-run Herald newspaper quoted a ZANU-PF official saying.

Mugabe’s cabinet allocation not legally binding, says lawyer group ~ APA
The announcement by Zimbabwe’ President Robert Mugabe of a list ministries allocated to the country’s three main political parties is not legally binding and can be revoked without further gazetting, legal experts said on Wednesday. [...] In a weekly legal briefing sponsored by the International Bar Association, southern African lawyers said the notice issued by Mugabe was not a law and was no more than an “official notification for public information of an allocation of ministerial functions”.

Mr. Mugabe’s Latest Betrayal ~ New York Times, Editorial
It took a lot of international pressure to force President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe to accept a power-sharing deal with Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader. It will take a lot more to force Mr. Mugabe to respect it. The original agreement, brokered by Thabo Mbeki, South Africa’s former president, left too many crucial details unsettled. Mr. Mugabe is now filling in the blanks in a way that ensures that he keeps all of the power.

S African police raid Zimbabweans ~ The Zimbabwe Times
Members of the South African Police Service (SAPS) and that country’s Home Affairs Department officials have launched a crackdown in which they are arresting Zimbabwean political refugees and deporting them, in total disregard even if they hold valid asylum permits, The Zimbabwe Times has learnt. The random police raids have allegedly targeted densely populated areas such as Hillbrow, Berea, Yeoville and Diepsloot, which house most Zimbabweans. Scores of Zimbabwean asylum seekers, told The Zimbabwe Times in Johannesburg that they were now living in fear of being arrested and deported, following reports that the police have, beginning two weeks ago, launched a crackdown, in which they have been arbitrarily arresting even those with valid asylum permits, telling them to go back to their own country.

This entry was posted by Link Round-up on Thursday, October 16th, 2008 at 11:43 am. You can follow any comments on this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.