Friday News: Where do you hide $5 billion?

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission officially announced on Friday that MDC candidate Morgan Tsvangirai received 47.9% of the vote in the presidential election to Bobby Mugabe’s 43.2%—necessitating a runoff between the two. The MDC continues to argue that this tally is inaccurate, that Tsvangirai received a clear majority and a runoff is thus unnecessary. Despite previous remarks to the contrary, the Zimbabwe Independent reports that Tsvangirai will participate in the run-off—but the BBC is still reporting that he will not, so who knows? The ZEC has not yet set a date for the vote.

South African ANC President Jacob Zuma told a May Day rally that his party will not let “old liberation ties” deter them from criticizing Mugabe’s and ZANU-PF’s human rights abuses. It remains to be seen if the ANC will not let “old liberation ties” deter them from actually doing something to stop the abuses.

Actions speak louder than words, comrades.

The chief prosecutor in Charles Taylor’s trial at the International Criminal Court says that former Liberian president/warlord kept as much as $5 billion in U.S. banks during his presidency.

Former ‘Lost Boy’—a title given to child refugees separated from their families during Sudan’s civil war, many of whom were resettled in the U.S.—Valentino Achak Deng has returned to his country to help with reconstruction efforts. Check out a Q&A about his experience as a refugee and his current projects.

The last-known survivor of a group of German army officers who tried to assassinate Adolf Hitler with a briefcase bomb in 1944 died today at the age of 90. Philipp von Boeselager escaped execution—the fate of most of his associates. Kudos to you, Mr. von Boeselager, for a valiant effort to resist.

Insomnia + Google Reader = Decreased Life Expectancy

Who has the most tedious-yet-incredibly-important job in the world right now? Everyone involved in the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission’s presidential election verification process, that’s who. Working with representatives from all involved parties, the ZEC began the painstaking process of comparing disputed election results. “‘Where we don't agree, we will pull out every relevant document to ensure we have the same figures,’ ZEC chairman George Chiweshe said beforehand. ‘At some stage, we have to agree.’" If only that were true. Though none of the participants commented on Thursday’s meeting, a BBC correspondent is “almost certain” that a dispute is already underway.

Have fun with that.

Meanwhile, reports of state-sponsored violence and pillaging keep coming in. The MDC claims 20 of its supporters were killed by ZANU-PF militants, and a ZANU-PF MP reportedly led a group of 200 party loyals in an attack on a farm that displaced 60 families.

The U.S. Senate passed a resolution sponsored by Senator Kerry which, after a long list of “whereases,” calls on Zimbabwe to immediately release the election results, condemns the post-election violence, and recommends U.S. and international sanctions against Zimbabwe. Now, this could either be the beginning of official U.S. action against Zimbabwe, or it could be a bunch of senators try to appear like they’re thinking of doing something to uphold human rights and democracy. Thoughts?

I love this article from The Guardian—and will let it speak for itself.

In other news: The U.S. and Belarus engage in a game of tit-for-tat.

News, of the non-Zim variety

• Somalia: A U.S. air raid early Thursday morning is believed to have killed a leader of the country’s Islamist insurgency, but this has not yet been officially confirmed. A Somali media source reports 15 other deaths as a result of the missile strike.
• Rwanda: In an odd about-face, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) accused Human Rights Watch—which has supplied the court with witness testimony for 14 years—of lacking credibility.
• South Africa: ANC President Jacob Zuma urges South Africans to end xenophobia and ill-treatment of foreigners. Refugees are subject to frequent violent attacks by South Africans who resent the competition for jobs and resources.
• China: Actress/Activist Mia Farrow is in Hong Kong to protest the Beijing Olympics as the torch is scheduled to pass through the territory. She assured Chinese officials that she does not intend to disrupt the relay, but will speak against China’s relationship with Sudan at a press conference.

Thursday Zim-date: Still Waiting

Representatives for Zim’s presidential candidates meet with the ZEC today to begin the verification process for the presidential election, though unnamed senior officials said that MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai garnered 47% of the vote to Mugabe’s 43%. If this is true—which the MDC refutes—a runoff will be necessary, as a candidate is constitutionally required to receive over 50% of the vote to be declared the winner.

The Guardian (UK) posted a photo gallery of injuries inflicted on MDC supporters by government forces and other ZANU-PF supporters. Drink your coffee before looking at this, folks—don’t make the same mistake I did.

The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) reports that the rejected Chinese ship, with Zim-bound weapons cargo, is still anchored off the coast of Angola, supposedly to refuel before returning to China. The leader of the ITF affiliate in Angola says that his members will refuse to unload any cargo bound for Zimbabwe.

Say what?

Is it possible that the delay in releasing the results of Zim's presidential election is not due to Mugabe’s desperate desire to remain in power, but is rather a tactic by top military commanders to buy time to negotiate themselves out of responsibility for decades of human rights abuses? Veeeeery interesting.

And in totally unrelated news…sunken treasure!

News: The Ripple Effect

• Sudan/Darfur: New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristoff warns in his blog that the international community’s failure to end the conflict in Darfur could lead a resumption of the North-South civil war. Kristoff also calls Bush out on “disingenuous” comments about the US role in Darfur.
• Somalia: Ethiopian soldiers killed at least 12 civilians in an apparent revenge attack after a second lethal bomb attack against Ethiopian troops. Ethiopia deployed soldiers to Somalia in 2006 to help support the weak transitional government against Islamist insurgents. Adding to the country’s woes, drought and the high inflation of food prices could soon lead to widespread starvation, resulting in a more dire humanitarian crisis that will exacerbate other conflicts playing out in the country.
• Southern Africa: A report released by Save the Children describes the hardships and horrors faced by child migrants traveling alone in the region, including beatings, forced labor, and sexual abuse. In addition to the moral and ethical imperatives of protecting children from abuse and exploitation, I think that we also need to address the issue in consideration of long-term goals for peace and stability in Africa, as these experiences in childhood will impact their adulthood. It’s a ripple effect: I once listened to a former member of the youth paramilitary wing of the Pan-African Congress in South Africa explain that he and his comrades spent their formative years as insurgents, and were given no assistance or training to adapt to life as a peaceful civilian. He partially attributed, with individual examples, South Africa’s high crime rate to the fact that many of these young men know no other way of life.
• The Holocaust: Tomorrow is Holocaust Remembrance Day. Here’s a great story from the New York Times about the recovery of a Torah scroll, part of which was buried to avoid destruction in a Nazi raid, and part of which was carried to Auschwitz.

Wednesday Zim-date

The UN Security Council was deeply divided when it met yesterday to discuss Zimbabwe’s ongoing election crisis. Though the issue was discussed in a closed meeting, sources say that South Africa, the current president of the UNSC, led efforts to block the appointment of a special UN envoy and fact-finding mission to Zimbabwe. Needless to say, Zimbabwe was quite happy with the results of the meeting. Britain takes over the presidency on May 1, and will likely raise the issue again. However, any UN action on Zimbabwe will still need to overcome the vetoes of China and Russia, who joined in South Africa’s dissent. (So predictable.)

Zimbabwe’s chief of police blames the opposition for both election fraud and the post-election violence, though the government did admit to the death of an opposition supporter at the hands of state security forces. The verification/recount/rigging/whatever of the ballots in the presidential election is set to begin tomorrow, after being postponed numerous times.

BBC published excerpts from a diary kept by a Harare resident describing the difficulties of daily life—the result of an economy run into the ground by nearly 3 decades of Mugabe’s senseless and destructive policies, and only made worse by the recent chaos over the elections. Zimbabwe’s inflation rate is the highest in the world—over 100,000%—and average life expectancy has dropped below 40. Mugabe and ZANU-PF have completely devastated the country, and it’s quite simply time for them to go.