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Judge throws out corruption charges against Zuma

admin — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 14:07:56 +0000

PIETERMARITZBURG, South Africa - A South African judge ruled Friday that prosecutors were wrong to charge ANC President Jacob Zuma with corruption, effectively clearing way for the 66-year-old former freedom fighter to become the country’s next president.

Judge Chris Nicholson’s ruling included biting criticism of prosecutors and of political leaders all the way up to President Thabo Mbeki, saying there was reason to believe the decision to charge Zuma was politically motivated.

Nicholson upheld Zuma’s complaints that he should have been consulted before the National Prosecuting Authority decided to resurrect corruption charges against him in 2007 in connection with a huge arms scandal that has dogged South Africa for the past decade.

As head of the ruling African National Congress party, Zuma is likely to run for president next year when Mbeki’s second and last term ends. The ANC’s political dominance all but assures its leader of victory in the presidential race.

The decision to “prosecute the applicant is invalid and is set aside,” the High Court judge said, concluding a two-hour reading of his ruling.

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Zimbabwe rivals in power-sharing talks

admin — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:57:14 +0000

Power-sharing talks in Zimbabwe entered their second day Tuesday amid reports they might collapse if President Robert Mugabe does not concede to opposition demands.
As Mugabe left the hotel Monday night where talks are taking place, he looked relaxed, smiled, and said the negotiations were going “very well.”

“We are moving forward and not backwards,” said the 84-year-old Mugabe, who has been at the helm of Zimbabwe since the country gained independence in 1980.

Mugabe’s sentiments were in contrast to those of Nelson Chamisa, spokesman for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

“We still have serious differences,” Chamisa said Monday. “We hope to narrow them. We are trying to find areas of consensus and possibly finalize the whole discussion tomorrow (Tuesday).”

South African President Thabo Mbeki is mediating the talks in Harare at the behest of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

Sources attending the talks say MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai maintains that he will sign the agreement only if Mugabe gives up some power.

At the MDC’s ninth anniversary celebrations Sunday, Tsvangirai said Mugabe must take a ceremonial presidency post and allow the opposition leader to head the government. Tsvangirai called for fresh elections if Mugabe refused.
It appears unlikely, however, that Mugabe would be willing to relinquish the powers he has enjoyed for 28 years.

Last week, Mugabe gave a 24-hour ultimatum to the MDC and threatened to name a cabinet without the opposition if Tsvangirai refused to sign the power-sharing deal. The MDC did not budge, saying it wants the power-sharing talks to come to a conclusion before a cabinet can be announced.

Zimbabwe has had no cabinet since the March election and June presidential run-off that sparked the current political limbo.

Tsvangirai won the most votes in the March vote, but not enough to avoid a run-off, according to the government’s official count. But days before the June run-off, he withdrew, saying Mugabe’s supporters had waged a campaign of violence and intimidation against opposition supporters.

Chamisa has said he hopes Mbeki will help break the current deadlock during this week’s meetings in Harare.

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Mbeki meets Zimbabwe parties in attempt to revive power-sharing talks

admin — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 14:43:26 +0000

The South African president, Thabo Mbeki, will meet Zimbabwe’s rival political parties today in a new attempt to secure a power-sharing deal.

The opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, said yesterday that he would rather quit the talks than sign an unsatisfactory deal, prompting fresh doubts over a compromise.

President Robert Mugabe has already threatened to form a government alone if Tsvangirai does not sign a deal and end the deadlock.

In response, Tsvangirai has challenged Mugabe to call a further election, insisting his party would win a clear majority.

In March this year, the two leaders fought a general election in which Tsvangirai fell just short of enough votes to avoid a second round of voting in June.

Mugabe went on to win the run-off unopposed after Tsvangirai pulled out, citing violence and intimidation against his supporters.

Since then, post-election talks to resolve the sharing of executive power between the two men have continued, delaying any chance of rescuing Zimbabwe’s crippled economy.

Mbeki, mandated by regional countries to mediate in the Zimbabwe talks, has come under repeated fire for not being tough enough with Mugabe.

Other southern African leaders have taken a harder line against the long-standing president, but Mugabe has refused to budge.

Yesterday, Tsvangirai held a rally marking the ninth anniversary of his party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

He made it clear that he has little faith in Mbeki as mediator and confirmed he did not intend to change his position in the power-sharing talks.

Zimbabwe’s June election run-off was condemned by governments around the world. It drew toughened sanctions from western countries whose support is vital for reviving Zimbabwe’s ruined economy.

A smaller, breakaway faction of the MDC, led by Arthur Mutambara, is the third party in negotiations aimed at forming a national unity government.

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Egyptian Billionaire Charged For Pop Star Murder

admin — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 21:51:05 +0000

An Egyptian billionaire has been charged with hiring a hitman to kill the winner of Lebanon’s equivalent of Pop Idol, in a case that has rocked the Arab world.
Suzanne Tamim enjoyed a meteoric rise to pop fame after winning the reality show in Lebanon.

But on July 28 the star’s body was found with her throat slit in her luxury apartment block in Dubai.

The man accused of ordering her death is one of Egypt’s most prominent and most successful tycoons, Heshaam Talaat Moustafa.

The alleged killer was a former police officer who stalked Tamim from London to Dubai before killing her, say authorities.

They claim the hitman entered the singer’s apartment pretending to bring a letter from her landlord.

“He then laid into her with the knife,” read the official indictment, “cutting her main arteries and her trachea”.
Moustafa is charged with paying the alleged killer two million dollars to carry out the killing.

The Egyptian is an MP with the ruling National Democratic Party, led by President Hosni Mubarak - but that is not helping him now. The upper house of the parliament has stripped him of his legal immunity as a lawmaker

The indictment says little about a possible motive, mentioning only that the killing was an act of revenge.
Arab papers have speculated that the singer had been romantically involved with Moustafa, a married father-of-three.

Lebanese pop music is enormously popular across the Arab world. Tamim had been one of its biggest stars.

The story is causing a sensation in the region, but in Egypt was subject to a reporting ban last month, only lifted in time to reveal the identity of the pair allegedly behind Tamim’s killing.