News!

• Zimbabwe: Zim made it onto NBC's Nightly News last night--you know that if something African makes it into Brian Williams' broadcast, something's gotta be f-ed up. (Congrats?) Business Day (Jo-burg) reports that sources within the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) revealed the operation of a secret task force, comprised of agents from the Central Intelligence Organization (CIO), established to ensure that Mugabe “wins power, stays in power, and keeps power.” Yet another organization—the South African Council of Churches (SACC)—has joined the many voicing concerns over the possibility of vote-rigging as the election results continue to be delayed. The New York Times reports that the opposition has entered talks with Mugabe’s advisers about the possibility of his resignation, but I’ll believe it when I see it. (April Fools?)
  
• Uganda: Rebel leader Joseph Kony continues to stall the peace process—perhaps he really is sick, but he hasn’t exactly established a reputation for himself as trustworthy.
• Western Sahara: The Norwegian Refugee Council decided to highlight the plight of this overlooked country and its people. Go Norway.
• DRC: And the “WTF…?” Award goes to the UN this morning, who decided to exempt the DRC military from an arms embargo. Normally this would not be a problematic proposition, but in the DRC, the military is responsible for some of the worst human rights abuses and violence against civilians in the war-torn country. Amnesty International, among others, criticized the UN’s decision.
• China: The IOC is warning China that it must provide open internet access to journalists and others during the Olympic games. China is notorious for its tight restrictions on the internet, so…this could be interesting.