Archivo etiqueta «Zimbabwe»
By Alexander Noyes, a research assistant at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 14/01/12):
Zimbabwe is fast approaching a dangerous tipping point. Last month, its ailing octogenarian president, Robert Mugabe, angrily defied his critics, calling for early elections in 2012. If a political settlement with Zimbabwe’s security chiefs is not negotiated before the vote, Mr. Mugabe will no doubt rely on them to once again begin a campaign of intimidation and violence, leading to sham elections that could precipitate a regional crisis.
To prevent this, the international community — in concert with African regional organizations … Seguir leyendo
By Peter Godwin, the author of The Fear: Robert Mugabe and the Martyrdom of Zimbabwe (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 19/04/11):
Barely was Laurent Gbagbo, wearing a sweat-damp white tank top and a startled expression, prodded at rebel gunpoint from the bombed ruins of his presidential bunker in Ivory Coast, than Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced this conclusion: His ejection, more than four months after he refused to accept electoral defeat, sent “a strong signal to dictators and tyrants throughout the region and around the world. They may not disregard the voice of their own people in free … Seguir leyendo
By Ian Scoones, co-director of ESRC STEPS Centre and a professorial fellow at the Institute of Development Studies and Blasio Mavedzenge, an independent researcher from Masvingo, Zimbabwe and co-author of Zimbabwe’s Land Reform: Myths and Realities (THE GUARDIAN, 08/11/10):
Ten years ago large areas of Zimbabwe’s commercial farmland were invaded by land-hungry villagers, led by war veterans and backed by President Robert Mugabe. The Zimbabwe supreme court ruled the land reform programme illegal, and since then images of chaos, destruction and violence have dominated global coverage.
But as Zimbabwe moves forward with a new agrarian system, a more … Seguir leyendo
By Richard Dowden, director of the Royal African Society and author of Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles (THE TIMES, 14/05/10):
Davos, the World Economic Forum, boasts that it is the place to meet important or influential people. That is one reason why I went to the meeting of the African chapter in Tanzania last week, but I didn’t expect to be embraced by Robert Mugabe.
He had not been invited, but happened to be in Dar es Salaam and got through the door. Klaus Schwab, who runs the organisation, pointed out that he was the first head of state … Seguir leyendo
By Douglas Rogers, the author of The Last Resort: A Memoir of Zimbabwe (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 15/04/10):
In the midst of a wave of post-election political violence in Zimbabwe in 2008, Brian James, a white farmer who had been evicted from his property years earlier during President Robert Mugabe’s seizure of white-owned lands, found himself surrounded by a throng of black Zimbabweans in downtown Mutare, my hometown. The 50-strong crowd danced, sang and chanted political slogans for more than 20 minutes before Mr. James was finally able to raise his hand, thank them for their support and announce … Seguir leyendo
By Blessing-Miles Tendi, a researcher and freelance writer on contemporary Zimbabwean politics (THE GUARDIAN, 04/03/10):
Lifting sanctions against President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party “would give Zimbabwe an opportunity to move forward“, Jacob Zuma told reporters this week during his visit to Britain. South Africa’s president is right. The continued EU sanctions are seriously weakening the hand of Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, in his efforts to implement a power-sharing deal in Zimbabwe.
This is because Zanu-PF’s response to the EU sanctions has consisted of an unrelenting propaganda effort to cast Tsvangirai … Seguir leyendo
By Blessing-Miles Tendi, a researcher and freelance writer on contemporary Zimbabwean politics (THE GUARDIAN, 27/11/09):
Indications ahead of the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Trinidad are that Zimbabwe will be offered readmission to the Commonwealth in 2011. In return for readmission Zimbabwe will be required to implement democratic and economic reforms. Zimbabwe was suspended from the Commonwealth in 2002 on the grounds that Robert Mugabe had been fraudulently re-elected in the country’s presidential election. Zimbabwe quit the Commonwealth a year later, after the body refused to lift the country’s suspension. The lifting of Zimbabwe’s suspension had been supported … Seguir leyendo
By Blessing-Miles Tendi, a researcher and freelance writer on contemporary Zimbabwean politics (THE GUARDIAN, 14/09/09):
At a summit last week, southern African leaders called on western states to “remove all forms of sanctions against Zimbabwe“. They contend that Zimbabwe’s power-sharing deal cannot be effectively implemented until sanctions are lifted. The EU and US say sanctions will not be lifted until the power-sharing agreement is appropriately observed.
Disagreement over the imposition of sanctions on Zimbabwe is not new. It goes back to 2002 when, at the request of Britain and some Zimbabwean civil society elements, the EU first … Seguir leyendo
By Lord Malloch-Brown, Minister for Africa, Asia and the UN (THE TIMES, 19/06/09):
Morgan Tsvangirai is due to arrive in London today as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe. He will be seeking UK government support and pitching for foreign investment. How should we respond to such an appeal from a Government that is led by Robert Mugabe, a man to whom we have got used to saying “no”?
We are clear that we must support the new inclusive Government, whatever our strong doubts about Mr Mugabe. Mr Tsvangirai has bravely chosen to join a government with his erstwhile rivals as … Seguir leyendo
By Michael Gerson (THE WASHINGTON POST, 17/06/09):
Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is attempting something rare and difficult — sharing power with the man who tried to murder him.
Every Monday morning, Tsvangirai conducts public business across the table from Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s president, founder and oppressor. During a recent interview in Washington, Tsvangirai told me that the 85-year-old Mugabe “is someone who can be charming when he wants. I am on guard when he becomes charming. It is when I’m most suspicious of his intentions.”
Mugabe has a long history of co-opting his political opponents — or killing them. … Seguir leyendo
By Greg Mills, the director of the Brenthurst Foundation, a research organization in Johannesburg that promotes economic growth in Africa and Jeffrey Herbst, the provost of Miami University of Ohio and the author of States and Power in Africa (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 28/05/09):
After years of rightly criticizing President Robert Mugabe’s authoritarian rule in Zimbabwe, Western countries now face a different, and difficult, set of decisions.
Since February, Zimbabwe has operated under a unity government led by Mr. Mugabe with the opposition’s leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, as prime minister. Had last year’s elections been free and fair, Mr. … Seguir leyendo
By Morgan Tsvangirai, Prime Minister of Zimbabwe (THE TIMES, 01/04/09):
On February 11, 2009, I took an oath as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe to work relentlessly to create a society where values are stronger than the threat of violence, where the future happiness of children is more important than partisan political goals and where a person is free to express an opinion, loudly, openly and publicly, without fear of reprisal or repression.
To create a country where jobs are available for those who wish to work, food is available for those who are hungry and where we are united … Seguir leyendo
By Rowan Williams and John Sentamu, Archbishops of Canterbury and York (THE TIMES, 25/02/09):
Twenty-five years ago, people involved in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa would say wistfully: “Look at Zimbabwe. It’s come through a bitter war of liberation without wrecking its social cohesion, it’s developed a proper democratic culture and it’s feeding itself.”
Granted, this was, even then, a slightly too rosy picture, but it wasn’t nonsense. It represented a conviction that Zimbabwe was showing what was possible to its neighbours and indeed to the whole continent.
And this means that one of the worst of … Seguir leyendo
By Chris Beyrer, director the Center for Public Health and Human Rights at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Frank Donaghue, chief executive of Physicians for Human Rights (THE WASHINGTON POST, 08/01/09):
Physicians for Human Rights sent a team to Zimbabwe last month to investigate the cholera epidemic that has ravaged lives there since August. As part of that team, we found something much more disturbing even than cholera: a people facing an array of health threats in a country where the most basic functions of the state — clean water, sanitation and health-care delivery … Seguir leyendo
By Martin Fletcher (THE TIMES, 02/01/09):
Long after you leave Zimbabwe images linger in the mind, harrowing and ineradicable. An emaciated old woman making “soup” from weeds for her orphaned grandchildren; desperate parents foraging in the bush for a handful of desiccated berries; young men defying crocodiles to catch a handful of tiny fish in the Zambezi; the corpses of cholera victims trussed up in black plastic sheeting; the ubiquitous and debilitated Aids victims; perfunctory funerals in Harare’s cemetery while, all around, fresh graves are dug.
The pathetic attempts to grow vegetables on scraps of common land; the queues desperate … Seguir leyendo