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HARARE - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was jeered on Tuesday as he opened parliament in defiance of opposition objections, but voiced optimism for a power-sharing deal to end political turmoil.

Heckling by parliamentarians from the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) drowned out Mugabe’s speech, underscoring the bitterness of the divide. It said reconvening parliament could undermine deadlocked talks.

“Landmark agreements have been concluded, with every expectation that everyone will sign up,” said Mugabe, 84, whose ZANU-PF party goes into the new parliament without a majority for the first time since independence from Britain in 1980.
“The elections are now behind us, what is upon us is a challenge of vision and common Read more »

Morgan Tsvangirai was to attend a summit of regional leaders Zimbabwe’s main opposition party says authorities have confiscated travel documents from its leader and other officials ahead of a regional summit. The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said the documents were taken at the airport in the capital, Harare. MDC leaders were due to travel to South Africa this weekend after power-sharing talks in Zimbabwe were adjourned. The MDC has been negotiating with President Robert Mugabe in efforts

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Mr Mbeki is hoping to secure a power-sharing deal Talks are under way in Zimbabwe to try to finalise a power-sharing deal between President Robert Mugabe and the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. South African President Thabo Mbeki is acting as mediator at the talks, which are taking place in a Harare hotel. Reports in some South African papers say a deal is close, and that a final agreement could be reached shortly. Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai are due to meet after more than a week of talks between their parties, reports say. One widely touted solution is that Mr Mugabe, the Zanu-PF leader, may become ceremonial president while Mr Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, is made executive prime minister. But there has been no official comment on these reports, apart from

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President Bush with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak at the presidential Blue House in Seoul on Wednesday.

BANGKOK — On the eve of the Olympic Games in Beijing, President Bush said that he had “deep concerns” about basic freedoms in China and criticized the detention of dissidents and believers, even as he praised the extraordinary gains China has made since he first visited more than three decades ago, according to remarks released by the White House on Wednesday.
Mr. Bush’s remarks, part of a speech on Asia to be delivered in Bangkok on Thursday, distilled and recast previous statements critical of China’s record on human rights. But released only hours before he was to fly to Beijing on Thursday evening, they represented a rebuke to China’s leaders, though a measured one.

“I have spoken clearly, candidly, and consistently with China’s leaders about our deep concerns Read more »

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe meets with Arthur Mutambara, an opposition leader.

Russia has reacted angrily to comments made by U.S. and British officials who criticized Moscow’s veto of U.N. sanctions against Zimbabwe.
Officials in the United States and Britain were quick to exclaim their surprise over Friday’s veto by Russia and China on sanctions.

The U.S.-led sanctions were aimed at punishing Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe’s deadly crackdown on the opposition Move for Democratic Change during and after the presidential election.

The Russian Foreign Ministry in a statement Saturday said the criticism “places a question mark over the worthiness of Russia as a G-8 partner,” The Associated Press reported.
It added that the possibility of U.N. sanctions on Zimbabwe was excluded at a recent G-8 summit in Japan.

Russia said it believed the sanctions would set a precedent for U.N. meddling, AP reported.

The sanctions would have been imposed on Mugabe and 11 senior members of his government.

According to a draft of the resolution, the measure would have instituted a travel ban, Read more »

The Group of Eight has agreed to seek UN sanctions against Zimbabwe after a violent election that extended President Robert Mugabe’s 28-year rule, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said today.

The G8, holding a three-day summmit in northern Japan, was due to issue a formal statement on the political crisis in the southern African country after discussing the issue over dinner, Japanese officials said.

“The need and the urgency was indicated for sanctions at the UN Security Council,” Read more »

President Mugabe addresses supporters at Harare airport on his return to Harare from African Union summit.

Video secretly recorded by a Zimbabwean prison guard appears to show evidence of vote-rigging in the country’s recent presidential runoff election.
The footage, shot with a secret camera provided by the British newspaper The Guardian, was posted on the paper’s Web site Saturday. The paper said the guard had since fled the country with his family.

The video shows the guard, Shepherd Yuda, being summoned along with other prison guards to an office at Harare’s central jail days before the June 27 runoff between President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

Once there, a supporter of Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party instructs the guards to vote by postal ballot while he watches. The ZANU-PF supporter, named only as “Shambira,” takes careful note of the guards’ ballot numbers and which candidate they vote for, and even helps Yuda properly fold his ballot and put it inside the envelope.

“The atmosphere in the room seems benign, but it’s deceptive,” Read more »