By Jonathan Clayton, Africa Correspondent Times Online
A power-sharing deal between President Mugabe’s Zanu (PF) and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change would be a very “African solution to an African problem”.
If, as was expected last night, a deal is struck that allows Robert Mugabe to remain in Zimbabwe, the 84-year-old will live out the rest of his life in luxury in the £8 million retirement home he built during his 28-year rule. He will be free to entertain acolytes in his splendid villa built at taxpayers’ expense within view of the people he has reduced to penury.
Some may not begrudge him such a retirement: they are prepared to pay any price to see him out of power.
Western countries, particularly Britain, will hate the deal, but Mr Mugabe has outfoxed them throughout his career. “Yes, it is an African solution to an African problem — but remember, most African leaders believe the Zimbabwe crisis is as much the fault of the United Kingdom as it is of Mugabe,” a source close to the negotiations told The Times.
The former colonial power is seen as having reneged on the Lancaster House agreement that gave Zimbabwe independence in 1980 by failing to help to end land inequality whereby 4,000 white farmers occupied 96 per cent of productive agricultural land.
Diplomatic sources said that negotiations were focusing on a power-sharing deal that would involve roles for both Zanu (PF) and the Movement for Democratic Change. Such a deal would be aimed at honoring Zanu (PF)’s historic role in “liberating” the country from British rule. It conveniently also means that while Zanu (PF) is still in government Mr Mugabe has de facto immunity from prosecution for “crimes” committed in office.Mr Mugabe was said to be emphasising in the negotiations the need to accord a former freedom-fighter “respect and dignity”. In Africa this argument still resonates and few people would want to see Mr Mugabe facing a humiliating show trial at The Hague similar to that being conducted against the former Liberian President Charles Taylor.
That means that Mr Mugabe’s clampdown, which some of his critics called a genocide, on opponents in Matabeleland in the 1980s will be overlooked, as will more recent human rights abuses.
For his part, Mr Mugabe is expected to live out his days in the sumptuous 25-bedroom retirement home that for years he sought to avoid. The three-story mansion is reported to have four acres of floor space, with Italian marble and ceilings decorated by Arab craftsmen. It sits in 44 acres of woodland in the exclusive Harare suburb of Borrowdale.
One of Mr Mugabe’s neighbors will be Mengistu HaileMariam, the former dictator who killed thousands of people during Ethiopia’s Marxist revolution. He was granted sanctuary in Zimbabwe in 1991 and has subsequently fought off all attempts to make him face justice before international tribunals.
Such compromises are seen as the only way to ensure that African leaders, no matter how reluctantly,do eventually relinquish power.
That may not be to the West’s taste but it is a reality of life in Africa and one that the victims of such regimes accept.
Kenya’s former dictator Daniel arap Moi stole billions and now lives the life of a grand old statesman in western Kenya, often offering to mediate in the region’s seemingly intractable disputes, among them Darfur.
“Even many of Mugabe’s opponents would not want to see him vilified before foreign courts seen as being in the hands of colonial oppressors. It may be nonsense but it is a sign of the strength of lingering hostility from colonial days,” the diplomatic source added.
َ(ST) NAIROBI – Ethiopia’s Ogaden rebels who carried out a raid against a Chinese-run oilfield last year denied the arrest of eight of their members in connection with that attack as it was announced by the government.
The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), in a statement published on Monday, dismissed the arrest, saying that the government claim intends to “divert attention from its ongoing genocide against the Ogaden people.”
The rebel statement added that all its members who participated in the last year attack are safe.
“Members that dislodged the Ethiopian army and the Exploiters from Obole are safe and not in the custody of Ethiopia.” The ONLF said.
74 people were killed in the rebel attack against a Chinese oil field in eastern Ethiopia on Tuesday April 24, 2007 — Nine Chinese workers of Zhongyuan Petroleum Exploration Bureau (ZPEB) and 65 Ethiopian. It was the first attack against a foreign company in Ethiopia.
Ethiopia is not an oil-producing country. But companies such as the Chinese one and Malaysia’s state-owned oil giant Petronas have signed exploration deals.
The rebel front reiterated its determination to stop “any attempt to steal the natural resources of the Ogaden people until they institute a genuine democratic government that represents them.”
The Ogaden National Liberation Front began armed resistance against the government of Ethiopia in 1994, creating a separatist war pitting impoverished, guerrilla nomads against one of the biggest armies in Africa.
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Woyanne claims it arrested 8 suspects in oilfield attack
By Peter Martel
(Reuters) – Ethiopia Woyanne said on Sunday security forces had arrested eight men suspected in connection with a deadly rebel raid last year on a Chinese-run oil field.
The state-run Ethiopian News Agency said the detainees belonged to the separatist Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), which killed 74 people during the April 2007 attack in the remote eastern Ogaden region.
It said they were also accused of taking part in a grenade attack in the regional capital, Jijiga, where two people died.
“These suspects in the terror acts had roles ranging from serving as accomplices to coordinating the atrocities committed against civilians,” the report said.
It listed eight names and said investigations were continuing, but did not say when or where they were arrested.
The ONLF say they are fighting for autonomy for their ethnically Somali region. Both the government and rebels accuse each other of grave rights abuses, and aid workers say nearly a million people there need humanitarian help.
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(Reporting by Tsegaye Tadesse; Writing by Daniel Wallis)
They guy is a Woyanne cadre. He was paid to do the anti-Christian instigation. Before Woyanne came to power there had never been any incident of religious clash in that part of the country.
(Compass Direct News) – Ethiopian judicial authorities Woyanne released a prominent local official accused of instigating deadly church assaults that left one Christian dead and 17 wounded last month in the Oromia region of Ethiopia.
Local Christians confirmed over the weekend that Hussein Beriso, house speaker of the Nensebo District Council, has been released on bail by a court in southern Ethiopia’s Oromo region. But 20 other Muslim suspects arrested over the machete attacks against two churches in Nensebo Chebi village on March 2 remain jailed, a local source said.
Evangelical leaders based in Werka district, where Nensebo is located, have reported that just hours after the attack Beriso forced local Christians at gunpoint to bury the one murdered victim, Tula Mosisa. But after church leaders protested, security officers from West Arusi Zone later exhumed Mosisa’s corpse and sent it to Awasa for an official postmortem examination.
Local Christians insist that Beriso was personally involved in “buying and distributing machetes” for Muslims involved in the simultaneous attacks, which occurred during Sunday morning worship services in the two village churches.
They also said the house speaker had made public comments against Christians in February, calling for local Muslims to resist any attempts to convince them to leave Islam. Both of Nensebo’s churches have members of Muslim upbringing who have converted to Christianity.
Church leaders also named two other local officials accused of perpetrating the violence: Zerihun Tilahun, head of Nensebo district’s militia, and his deputy, Sheik Kedir.
Ten days ago, all 21 suspects arrested over the attacks were taken to court in Shashemene town, 85 miles from Nensebo village. But since three judges were not present, as legally required for a full bench in the courtroom, the March 21 hearing was postponed until April 25.
The zonal government prosecutor stated after the hearing that once police investigations are completed, he expects to be able to file a “strong case” against the suspects.
Four of the culprits under arrest have reportedly confessed during police interrogations that they helped to kill Mosisa, 45, and wound 17 other Christian worshippers with machetes in the planned raids against the Kale Hiwot and Birhane Wongel Baptist churches in Nensebo Chebi.
Church leaders have named four individuals among the arrested suspects whom they accuse of leading the violent attacks: Gemeda Beriso, Kedir Beriso, Keru Mamona and Hajji Kuma.
Local Christians Support Victims
According to a report on Thursday (March 27) from Holland-based Open Doors International (ODI), the Nensebo attack has drawn Christians in the predominantly Muslim-populated area closer together.
“The local church and Christians from a neighboring city are taking care of the needs of the Nensebo Chebi victims,” ODI reported, noting that all of the wounded victims have been discharged from the hospital.
Although federal police are controlling the area and local administration officials have appealed to the wounded Christians and their families to return to Nensebo, most have opted to remain in Awasa for medical treatment.
The 5-year-old boy whose arm was cut to the bone had to be brought back to the Awasa hospital for a few days after his first release, when his wounds encased by a cast continued to bleed.
Two of the victims, married men with four children each, lost one of their hands, and a young policeman in the congregation trying to defend the worshippers was stabbed in his thigh and calf after being felled by a gunshot to his right arm.
Mosisa, whose head was nearly severed in one stroke by a razor-sharp machete, died instantly. He had left his wife and eight children in a village far to the north of Addis Ababa to find work as a farmer in Nensebo.
After the official autopsy was completed, his body was sent to his home village for burial.
In a letter obtained by Compass yesterday, the Evangelical Churches Fellowship of West Arusi Zone based in the Werka district appealed directly to the Conflict Prevention Committee in the federal government’s House of Representatives to ensure that justice was carried out in the Nensebo Cheli violence.
Dated March 15 and signed by 16 pastors and church elders, the five-page appeal noted that previous attacks had occurred in the region in 2000, 2005 and 2006, when Christian places of worship had been stoned and set afire by Muslims.
The letter appealed to the Ethiopian government to implement Article 27 of the constitution, which guarantees freedom of worship. In particular, it protested that local Muslims holding official government positions were openly opposing efforts of Christian churches to establish places of worship and follow their faith peacefully.
Not only should the government punish those who resort to violence, the appeal said, but a careful investigation should also be conducted to identify the local officials involved in inciting religious hatred.
Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader and President Mugabe’s government deny behind-the-scenes talks about a power-sharing deal in the wake of Saturday’s elections.
Behind-the-scenes negotiations between Zimbabwe’s ruling party and the main opposition party of Morgan Tsvangirai are under way in the wake of Saturday’s elections, according to several sources familiar with the discussions.
Under a proposed deal, President Robert Mugabe would step down, allowing his ruling ZANU-PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to share power in a government of national unity, a senior MDC official confirmed Tuesday evening.
The official said that military chiefs, who are allied to Mr. Mugabe and recently said they would not salute Mr. Tsvangirai if he was elected president, had approached the opposition with the proposal of a national unity government.
“Such overtures have been made, but they are still in their infancy. Our leader [Tsvangirai] is skeptical about Mugabe’s overtures because the old man is a skimmer and is cunning,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.
A US State Department official said the talks followed projections showing Tsvangirai would beat Mugabe in the election but fall short of the 51 percent of votes needed to avoid a runoff, according to Reuters.
Both Mugabe’s government and Tsvangirai, however, denied Tuesday night that such talks are taking place.
If, in fact, Mugabe is negotiating his way out of office, it will be a sign of how far both the 84-year-old liberation leader and his once-powerful party have fallen.
A slow, decade-long collapse of the economy – under the weight of Western sanctions and self-destructive economic policies at home – has turned Mugabe into a deeply unpopular leader. Even Mugabe’s staunchest supporters, the military and security agencies, seem to have lost the will to rig elections in his favor or to enforce his will on the streets, observers say.
“My sense is that they were unable to rig these elections, in part because of a lack of capacity and motivation by ZANU-PF officials and the security agencies,” says Chris Maroleng, a Zimbabwe expert at the Institute for Security Studies in Tshwane as Pretoria, South Africa, is now called.
Key reforms prevented vote rigging
Electoral reforms, negotiated under the leadership of the South African delegation to the Southern African Development Community, forced electoral officials to count votes at polling stations and to announce the results at the polling stations, Mr. Maroleng adds.
This prevented ZANU-PF officials from stuffing ballots later on at the central counting offices in Harare. Once the votes were counted, Mugabe’s downfall was literally written on the wall.
In a press conference on Tuesday night, Tsvangirai declared victory of more than 50 percent of the vote and said that the tallies announced by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission jibed with MDC’s own figures from the polling stations. Tsvangirai joined other MDC spokesmen in denying any negotiations were taking place with ZANU-PF, adding that any such negotiations could only take place once ZEC had announced the final results.
‘A new Zimbabwe’?
“The vote on Saturday was a vote for change, for jobs, and to build a new Zimbabwe,” said Tsvangirai, the former union leader, at a press conference in Harare. “There is no way the MDC can enter discussions with ZANU-PF until ZEC announces the results.”
Even so, diplomats in Harare confirmed that negotiations were in fact going on. An African diplomat, who refused to be named, said the deal had been brokered by South Africa, but added that it was unlikely that the MDC would agree, considering Mugabe’s political history of reneging on agreements.
“Remember in 1987, Mugabe lured [the rival militia movement] ZAPU to form a government of national unity but went on to ‘swallow’ the party,” says the diplomat. “Tsvangirai is old enough to remember that.”
Experts say it would be naive to assume that Mugabe or the ZANU-PF will simply hand over the keys to the government after losing an election. These negotiations, if they are occurring, will be part of a longer process of ensuring that ZANU-PF continues to play a role in Zimbabwe’s government, even if the MDC takes power.
“I think that Robert Mugabe has lost the election, but he has not lost completely the House of Assembly,” says Gordon Moyo, director of Bulawayo Agenda, a coalition of civil society groups in Bulawayo. “So in these negotiations, he may be telling MDC: ‘You will not be able to pass any major constitutional changes through Parliament. We are going to block you.’ It would be better to have a peaceful transition.”
• A journalist who could not be named for security reasons contributed from Harare.
In Woyanne’s case, the solution is to invest in flowers for export to Holland. Guess who is in charge of agricultural policy in Ethiopia.
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By Peter Heinlein, VOA
A conference of African finance and development ministers thieves in Addis Ababa is examining ways of alleviating the impact of a worldwide rise in food and commodity prices. VOA’s Peter Heinlein reports the head of the U.N. World Food Program is attending, and is looking at an innovative project aimed at easing the burden on Ethiopia’s urban poor.
Terunesh Mengesha, 41, is chattering with other women about skyrocketing food prices as they stand in line to receive a 50-kilogram sack of wheat for the Ethiopian equivalent of about $9. At regular stores in Addis Ababa that same bag, enough to keep her husband and four children fed for two months, would cost $20.
After having her coupon stamped, she receives a big white bag imprinted with a red, white and blue American flag. The wheat subsidy program is run by the Ethiopian government, and funded by the U.N. World Food Program and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Speaking through a translator, Terunesh says the $9 she pays is almost her entire two-month income doing laundry. Her husband makes slightly more as a factory guard. She says all her neighbors are enrolled in the wheat subsidy purchase program, because it is the only way to balance their budgets.
“No one has a choice,” she said. “They all come here because the price is much easier for them to buy.”
Berhane Hailu, director of the Ethiopian government agency that operates the subsidy program, says it shields millions of urban poor people from the impact of commodity price hikes.
“Up to now, 825,000 heads of families are registered and hold the coupon and are users of this program,” he noted. “If we calculate five members in a family, 4.1 million people are benefiting from this program.”
Finance and development ministers from most African countries are at the U.N. Economic Commission for Africa conference this week to discuss the impact the global rise in oil and food prices is having on struggling African economies.
World Food Program Director Josette Shearan is at the conference, and while in Addis Ababa she went to see how the wheat distribution center operates.
“We are very concerned about the high prices globally,” she said. “It is having different effects in different countries, but we do think that this pressure will continue for some time, and it is important that we find ways to alleviate the pressure on the most vulnerable. Those who make less than $2 a day or $1 a day have less resiliency.”
Shearan says in today’s globalized economy, there is a growing need to protect impoverished countries like Ethiopia from price spikes caused by crop failures in other parts of the world.
“We are looking for innovative solutions to help countries and to partner with countries in alleviating the pressure on the most vulnerable people,” she added. “And so these price increases got aggressive globally about a year ago, and no country has been immune from those pressures.”
U.N. Undersecretary-General and head of the Economic Commission for Africa Abdoulie Janneh told the ministers’ conference that high oil and food prices challenge the continent to ensure essential goods are affordable, while not stifling the role higher prices play in increasing production.
The conference issued a statement Monday noting that rising prices of staple goods had been blamed for social disturbances in at least four African countries this year – Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Senegal and Mauritania.
