London, United Kingdom | AFP | The Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, put on his white cleric’s collar on Sunday for the first time since cutting it up ten years ago in a highly symbolic protest at Robert Mugabe’s rule. The Uganda-born cleric, the second most senior clergyman in the …
Read More »Museveni and the army
Museveni and the army: Failing to learn from past mistakes? Kampala, Uganda | HAGGAI MATSIKO | If a position is operationally strategic, President Yoweri Museveni will appoint a soldier to it. If a job is critical to his survival in power, Museveni will appoint a soldier to do it. As …
Read More »The tragedy of Robert Mugabe
How Western cunning exploited African gullibility to demonise the Zimbabwean president THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | President Robert Mugabe is leaving power under duress after 37 years as leader of Zimbabwe. His fall has been celebrated as the “end of an error.” He has been vilified as an ageing, …
Read More »Zimbabwe war veterans at heart of Mugabe’s downfall
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Once Robert Mugabe’s fiercest supporters, independence war veterans played a key role in ousting him, proving they still wield influence in Zimbabwe which only threw off colonial rule in 1980. Mugabe’s reign was built on support from three pillars — ZANU-PF party, the military and …
Read More »Zimbabwe court rules military takeover legal
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | A Zimbabwe High Court has ruled that the military takeover that led to Robert Mugabe’s ousting was legal, raising immediate concerns about judicial independence under the country’s new administration. Army chiefs put military vehicles on the streets of Harare and placed veteran leader Mugabe, 93, under …
Read More »Mnangagwa pledges new era as Zimbabwe president
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwe’s new President Emmerson Mnangagwa vowed sweeping change at his swearing in on Friday, seeking to reassure foreign investors and pledging to fight poverty and corruption after Robert Mugabe’s shock resignation. In his inaugural address, Mnangagwa set out a programme of dramatic change that promised …
Read More »Zimbabwe’s political roller-coaster: What we know
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa has taken over as Zimbabwe’s new leader, ending strongman Robert Mugabe’s 37-year reign and the country’s worst political crisis since independence. Here is a snapshot of two weeks of turmoil, from a military takeover to mass street protests and an …
Read More »Sorrow, admiration in Mugabe’s birthplace
Zimbabwe | AFP | Local residents in the rural Zimbabwean village where Robert Mugabe was born, got married, and has a house say he was a great leader — but express sorrowful acceptance rather than anger at his ousting. Kutama, 55 miles (90 kilometres) outside the capital Harare, has been …
Read More »Mnangagwa sworn in as Zimbabwe president
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Emmerson Mnangagwa was sworn in as Zimbabwe’s president on Friday, marking the final chapter of a political drama that toppled his predecessor Robert Mugabe after a military takeover. Mnangagwa, until recently one of Mugabe’s closest allies, took the oath of office at the national sports stadium …
Read More »From Myanmar to Zimbabwe, China’s global footprint grows
Beijing, China | AFP | China has traditionally rejected US-style interventionism, but its deepening economic involvement in volatile countries like Myanmar and Zimbabwe is thrusting Beijing towards a more assertive global role, analysts say. China’s foreign policy has been guided by its principle of “non-interference in other countries’ internal affairs”, …
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