Tuesday News Round-Up: Feeling like a broken record...

The Daily Zim-date, Cliffsnotes Version: Pretty much the same bunk I’ve written about every day for the last two and a half months.

Full Version: The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party accused Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party of using state agencies, media, and state security forces to obstruct their campaign efforts. MDC leader and presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai said that Zimbabwe is “effectively being run by a military junta,” and told a press conference that talks of a ZANU/MDC unity government are premature, despite rumors that negotiations are currently underway in South Africa.

I’m all about avoiding violence and bloodshed, but it seems a tad foolish to me to think that any kind of power-sharing is even an option with Mugabe and the ZANU thugs. Why do I say this? History, my friends. Let’s learn from it. Mugabe’s rule has a nearly-30 year record of corruption and authoritarianism—what makes anyone think he will suddenly adopt a philosophy of participatory, democratic governance?

South African President Thabo Mbeki is supposedly mediating these negotiations. Perhaps he should be replace by someone with less affinity for Mugabe, and without a history of disregarding his tyrannical policies and rantings.

In other news…more warnings were issued today regarding the dire consequences of rising food prices and shortages for struggling populations. The situation is compounded by drought in Ethiopia. Children, as is all to often the case, are the first and the hardest hit.

Somalia’s transitional government signed a three-month ceasefire with a rebel group—unfortunately, there are many such groups waging war against the weak central government, and a top Islamic rebel scoffed at the agreement.

I don’t quite know what to make of this: On his last trip to Europe, President Bush told reporters that he created the wrong impression of being a warmonger, saying, "I think that in retrospect I could have used a different tone, a different rhetoric" in the run-up to the Iraq war.

Uh-huh. Any other regrets?

What are we going to do about Bobby?

Zimbabwe is such a mess—I keep reading these articles and wondering…is anyone doing anything about this? How much worse will it get? Fourteen members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) were arrested two weeks ago on charges of “conducting activities that are likely to cause public disorder” and “distributing false information.” (They were protesting the delay in releasing the results of the original presidential election in March.) They were granted bail by a judge on Friday, but the state shows no sign of letting them free. Families of MDC officials are increasingly targets of ZANU-PF militias, and a minister lost an eye in a brutal attack on a group that attended an MDC meeting. Two of the country’s human rights lawyers fled to South Africa due to threats on their life, and following the death of 5 of their clients, all MDC activists.

The EU and US will call on the UN to send election monitors for the June 27 run-off, but Mr. Bobby Mugabe has an established pattern of not only disregarding pressure from the UN and the West, but vociferously blaming them for all of his country’s woes.

I would really, really love to know what goes on in that man’s head.

But, onwards, if not upwards. The last remaining rebel group in Burundi continues to recruit children into its ranks, despite moves towards peace and disarmament. (Taking cues from Joseph Kony, it seems.) Citizens in Burma are being arrested for distributing aid to cyclone victims. (Bastards.)

Monday News Brief: MN or Bust?

In Zimbabwe, Bobby Mugabe and his ZANU-PF continue to intimidate the opposition MDC party and its supporters ahead of the June 27 presidential run-off election, adding “arrest top party officials” and “ban all campaign rallies” to their stellar repertoire of campaign tactics—which already includes setting up torture camps and blocking food aid as key strategies.

A small measure of progress was made in Sudan over the weekend, with President Omar al-Bashir and southern leader Salva Kiir agreeing to an interim government and international arbitration process over the disputed Abyei region. Over 50,000 people fled the region recently after renewed fighting between the government and southern forces threatened to re-ignite civil war.

A report by the ENOUGH Project raises concerns for renewed violence in Northern Uganda, as it documents how rebel leader Joseph Kony used the relative calm of the peace negotiation process to rearm his Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). Ugandan and other regional governments are considering (preparing for?) military action against the threat of a new offensive by the LRA.

Quick items: A UN team is currently in the DRC to address the on-going challenges to peace in the region. Further clashes between Islamic militants and Ethiopian and Somali troops have civilians caught in the crossfire in Mogadishu. The Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission will hold hearings for its diaspora in Minnesota this week. And finally, a New York Times editorial on politics and hunger, following last week’s UN food summit in Rome.

Thursday News: A few things that have me concernicus...

President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan responded to criticism from a US special envoy, accusing the US and the West of trying to “dictate” the internal affairs of his country, and asking the international community to give him a change to resolve the crises in Darfur and Abyei. Excuse me, Mr. President? Killing all of your opponents does not qualify as a legitimate policy for conflict resolution and domestic peace.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) is setting up a committee, with ZANU-PF and MDC representatives, to work with police to curb violence ahead of the June 27 presidential run-off election. Because clearly it makes good sense for the people responsible for the violence to be charged with “curbing” it. The po-po have been very busy this week: They detained opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai for “rallying supporters without authorization” (if only he would have asked!), and also held a convoy of US and UK diplomats to prevent them from investigating the on-going political violence. The convoy was chased by Zimbabwe police, who then slashed the tires of their vehicle and detained them for 5 hours once they were finally stopped. The government is also reportedly preventing food distributions by international aid organizations in certain regions until after the election. Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga defied a taboo by publicly criticizing Mugabe and calling a dictator.

The US called on South Africa to use its “unique position” of political leverage with Mugabe to intervene and avert further violence. South African President Thabo Mbeki has presided over such negotiations in the past, and has been accused by many of being too soft towards Mugabe. An editorial in the New York Times accuses Mbeki of abdicating his responsibility, and calls on other African governments to take his place. A civil society group also accused Mbeki of knowing about plans to transport a shipment of Chinese weapons through South Africa to Zimbabwe—delivery of the shipment, as you may remember from previous posts, was successfully thwarted by organized protests throughout southern Africa.

Rwandan rebels attacked a refugee camp in the eastern DRC, killing 6 and wounding 30 after firing indiscriminately into a crowd of unarmed civilians. The rebels, many of whom participated in the 1994 genocide, remain a major obstacle to peace in the region.

Uganda, Sudan, and the DRC agreed to join forces against the Ugandan rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) if their leader, Joseph Kony, continues to stall peace negotiations. The UN-led process was near conclusion in April when Kony refused to show up and sign the peace accord, presumably in protest of an International Criminal Court indictment against him. Human rights groups report an increase in the LRA’s violence activities, including the abduction of children, in the months since. Kony and the LRA are hiding in eastern DRC.

And finally…an Amnesty International report on crimes against humanity committed by the government of Burma (Myanmar) against the Karen ethnic minority.

Tuesday News: Finally broke through technical issues with Blogger, so this is a long one...

Both Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International are calling for the release of 130 prisoners from the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, ahead of the 19^th anniversary on Wednesday, June 4. HRW says the Chinese government should release the wrongfully-detained activists to uphold its commitment to improve its human rights record before the Olympics in Beijing. In other big-bad-China news, judges sanctioned attorneys who offered to defend Tibetan activists detained for their participation in protests earlier this year.

Election fun continues in Zimbabwe…and by “fun,” of course I mean violence, intimidation, arbitrary arrests and detentions, and a general crackdown on all opposition to Mugabe and his government. ZANU-PF liberation-fighters-turned-lawless-thugs, the ‘war veterans,’ told civil servants that they’ll lose their jobs if they vote for the opposition. All operations of aid organization Care International have been suspended after the group was accused of campaigning for the opposition--an allegation they deny. Our good friend Bobby Mugabe is currently in Rome for a UN food summit, and is subject to international condemnation as a result. Mugabe even spoke at the summit, once again accusing Great Britain and the West of imperialist sabotage of Zimbabwe’s political and economic affairs (his favorite line of defense, it seems).

The Zimbabwe crisis is being cited by many otherwise disparate parties in South Africa as a key reason that President Thabo Mbeki should resign ahead of the end of his second presidential term, though there are certainly many other contributors to the “governance and leadership vacuum” in the country. The recent wave of xenophobic violence are also fueling the political discord, especially as civil society groups say they warned the government last year about the possibility of such violence.

The situation in Somalia looks increasingly dire, as the United Nations Security Council embarks on a 10-day, 5-nation tour to solicit support for its peace efforts. Frequent clashes between Islamic insurgents and Ethiopian troops, in the country to back the weak transitional government, are proving to be a major obstacle to peace and cease fire negotiations.

Uganda confirmed its continued presence in Darfur, despite the killing of one of its peacekeepers. For an assessment on the current situation in Sudan, and the implications of the conflicts in Abyei and Darfur, check out the Council on Foreign Relations report, “Sudan’s Interlocking Crises.”

The US accused the military in Burma of “criminal neglect,” as an estimated one million people still have not received assistance one month after Cyclone Nargis. US Naval ships, stocked with relief supplies but not yet allowed to dock and unload, will likely be withdrawn from the region soon. The leader of the junta said the affected areas would be fully opened to international relief workers, but the government is still restricting access 10 days later.

Finally, two things to keep an eye on: 1. War and conflict have an environmental toll as well as a human one--check out this article on elephants caught in the crossfire of Sri Lanka’s civil war; 2. Thailand is experiencing a bit of economic turmoil amid mounting anti-government demonstrations and rumors of a military coup.