Cox and Forkum

Zimbabwe Curbs Many Aid Groups - Celia Dugger, New York Times

Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Zimbabweans — orphans and old people, the sick and the down and out — have lost access to food and other basic humanitarian assistance as their government has clamped down on international aid groups it says are backing the political opposition, relief agencies say. In recent days, CARE, one of the largest nonprofit groups working in the country, has been ordered by the Zimbabwean government to suspend all its operations, which help 500,000 of the country’s most vulnerable people. This month alone, CARE would have fed more than 110,000 people in schools, orphanages, old-age homes and in various programs, it said.

Mugabe Accuses West - Richard Owen, Times of London

Robert Mugabe used a UN world food conference in Rome yesterday to accuse Britain and its Western allies of trying to topple him through “illegal regime change” by crippling Zimbabwe economically. There was also serious criticism from a more authoritative source when Jacques Diouf, the head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, accused the West of getting its priorities wrong, worrying about climate change, cars and biofuels at the expense of feeding the poor.

Mugabe Blames West for Food Shortages - Frances D'Emilio, Associated Press

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, whose authoritarian rule has brought widespread hunger to his country, defended his policy of seizing land from whites on Tuesday, saying he is undoing a legacy of Zimbabwe's former colonial masters. Mugabe spoke to world leaders at a UN summit on the global food crisis against a backdrop of sharp criticism over his participation. Once hailed as a hero of African liberation, Mugabe has come to be widely reviled for presiding over the collapse of Africa's one-time bread basket into a nation where millions go hungry.

Robert Mugabe's Reckoning Looms - Mary Riddell, Daily Telegraph opinion

How pleased the starving of Bulawayo will be that the British Foreign Office is considering stripping Robert Mugabe of his honorary knighthood. How gratified they must feel that the Development Secretary, Douglas Alexander, won't be shaking his hand at the United Nations' world food summit in Rome. On the other hand, Zimbabweans might have more pressing concerns, such as staying alive. With the country's run-off election imminent, the tyrant's henchmen are out canvassing, Mugabe-style. Thousands of political opponents have fled. Activists have reportedly had their eyes gouged out. Morgues fill with the bodies of the disappeared.

Somali Groups Seek UN Sanctions - Louis Charbonneau, Reuters

Somali civil groups urged the UN Security Council on Tuesday to impose sanctions on political leaders opposed to peace talks and to call for the withdrawal of Ethiopian forces backing the interim government. The Somali government had said it hoped for a peace deal after members of the 15-nation Council met separately with its officials and opposition critics on Monday in Djibouti. But leaders of the Islamist al Shabaab insurgent group and more hardline elements of the Eritrea-based Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS) were absent. The opposition figures who did attend demanded Ethiopian forces leave Somalia.

Prosecutor Links Government to Darfur Crimes - John Heilprin, Associated Press

The chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court charges that "the whole state apparatus" of Sudan is implicated in crimes against humanity in the Darfur region, linking the government directly with the feared janjaweed militia. Luis Moreno-Ocampo says in a report to the UN Security Council, obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, that he has uncovered evidence showing "high officials" in the Sudanese government are linked to many horrendous attacks in Darfur.

South Sudan Wants Government Troops Out - Edith Lederer, Associated Press

The leader of Sudan's troubled South called on the country's president Tuesday to pull back government troops in a contested oil-rich border region between the north and south that has been the site of recent fighting. Salva Kiir, who also serves as Sudan's Vice President, said more northern troops were heading from Khartoum, the capital, to Abyei, but dismissed the notion of fighting them, saying the south wants talks.

Sudan's Interlocking Crises - Stephanie Hanson, CFR

Sudanese government troops and southern Sudanese forces have led a tense coexistence for months in the oil-rich area of Abyei, which straddles Sudan's north and south. Accounts of what ignited the recent fighting (Economist) between the two groups differ, but no one disputes the end result: a town destroyed (WashPost), roughly one hundred thousand people displaced, and the probability of civil war on the rise with each passing day. Abyei exemplifies the most contentious elements of a 2005 peace deal between north and south Sudan. Analysts say the town's future is critical to the viability of that agreement, and by extension, prospects for a resolution to the crisis in Darfur.

Rival troops from north and south are converging on central Sudan

Zimbabwean Police Charge Mugabe Rival - Craig Timberg, Washington Post

Zimbabwean police detained opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai for eight hours Wednesday and charged him with violating public order for campaigning ahead of the country's June 27 presidential runoff election, party officials said. Tsvangirai was traveling between a campaign stop in the western town of Lupane and a rally in nearby Tsholotso.

Zimbabwean Opposition Leaders Held - Celia Dugger, New York Times

Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader who placed first in Zimbabwe’s March elections and now faces a runoff with President Robert Mugabe, was detained by the police for nine hours on Wednesday and charged with drawing a big crowd, his party said. He was released late in the evening.

Tsvangirai Seized On Way to Election Rally - Harare and Philp, Times of London

Morgan Tsvangirai, the Zimbabwean opposition leader and presidential contender, was seized by police on his way to an election rally and held for more than eight hours yesterday. His arrest came against a backdrop of rising violence led by ruling party militia and state security agents against the Movement for Democratic Change, the party that Mr Tsvangirai leads. More than 50 MDC supporters, workers and polling agents have been killed since Robert Mugabe's defeat last month. The Government also sought to punish opponents of the Zimbabwean President by taking control of food aid distribution.

From Terror to Hunger - Washington Post editorial

It's becoming clear that there's nothing that Robert Mugabe will not do to prevent the people of Zimbabwe from voting him out of the presidency -- and very little that Zimbabwe's African neighbors or the United Nations will do to stop him. The two phenomena are related: The more foreign governments have dithered over Mr. Mugabe's violent repression since the March 29 election, the more blatant and brutal his actions have become. The announcement of the presidential election result was delayed for more than a month while the president's thugs rampaged through the countryside, beating and torturing people suspected of supporting the opposition. Authorities finally announced that opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai had defeated Mr. Mugabe but had fallen short of a 50 percent majority. They scheduled a runoff for June 27.

Zimbabwe’s Reign of Terror - New York Times editorial

In his cynical and bloody bid to hang on to power, Zimbabwe’s president, Robert Mugabe, has bet on the indifference of his neighbors and the rest of the world. So far, shamefully, he has been right. On Tuesday, three-and-a-half weeks before a runoff presidential election, Mr. Mugabe’s henchmen detained Morgan Tsvangirai, the popular opposition leader and likely winner of the first round, for nine hours. That is only the latest outrage. International aid agencies reported this week that they had been ordered to stop distributing food to hundreds of thousands of hungry Zimbabweans, at least until the June 27 vote. Officials working for Mr. Mugabe claimed that the aid groups were backing the opposition, but it is clear that the government wants to further intimidate voters while reducing the number of possible outside witnesses to its campaign of terror.

Sudan Officials Implicated in Attacks - Nora Boustany, Washington Post

The chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court has implicated top Sudanese officials in recent attacks, including killings and rapes, against civilians in the Darfur region of western Sudan, and will present their names and evidence against them to the court in July. The prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, is scheduled to deliver a report on his investigation to the UN Security Council today.

UN. Council Pushes Sudan on South and Darfur - Louis Charbonneau, Reuters

UN Security Council envoys pressed Sudan's government on Wednesday to avert a return to civil war with the south and over the separate conflict in its western Darfur region. Khartoum accused an international prosecutor of wrecking the peace process for Darfur. The Security Council mission to African hot-spots is spending three days in Sudan to try to keep a 2005 north-south peace deal on track and help bring peace to Darfur. Africa's biggest country has suffered decades of strife.

W. Sahara’s Conflict Traps Refugees in Limbo - Cara Buckley, New York Times

The refugees are Sahrawis from Western Sahara, products of a tangled, nearly forgotten conflict between Morocco and a Sahrawi rebel group, the Polisario Front, that has dragged on for more than 30 years. Western Sahara is a former Spanish colony wedged among Mauritania, Algeria, Morocco and the Atlantic Ocean, and it has been in political limbo since Spain withdrew in 1976. After Spain’s departure, Morocco annexed most of the land, an action that no other country recognized, and the Polisario Front waged a bitter battle for independence that led to a cease-fire in 1991. There has been a political impasse over its status ever since.

Africa: Critics Target US Military Command - Inter Press Service

In just a few months, the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) -- Washington's latest military oversight structure for the continent -- is expected to be fully operational. Streamlining the image of the command is proving every bit as demanding as putting personnel and equipment in place, however. Controversy has surrounded AFRICOM on both sides of the Atlantic since the start of the initiative, and appears unlikely to fade any time soon.

Fighting the LRA Rebels - Reuters

Uganda, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo have agreed to jointly fight the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels if peace talks with its elusive leader Joseph Kony fail, a military official said on Thursday. Kony snubbed mediators in April after raising hopes that he would sign a peace deal to end over two decades of war in Uganda's north that has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced two million more.

Little Orphan AFRICOM - Phillip Carter, Intel Dump

According to Sunday's Washington Post, the Pentagon's new Africa Command (AFRICOM) will begin operations on Oct. 1 with its headquarters thousands of miles from Africa and without a single forward headquarters on the continent. The key problem, it seems, is that the Africans don't really want an American combatant command.

An Old Mission Expands - Galrahn, Information Dissemination

It took awhile, but the UN Security Council has organized itself for fighting pirates off the Horn of Africa and coast of Somalia. This is a big step. The Naval coalition in the area has rarely been able to intercept a hijacked ship prior to the ship reaching the 12-mile exclusion zone. This has been both a blessing and a burden to the fight against piracy. The blessing has been the international naval forces haven't had to make difficult decisions under hostage situations. The burden has been that in some cases, they couldn't engage targets of opportunity in the zone, a problem that is eliminated with the new UN measure.

UN Move Taken Against Somali Pirates - Clay Varney, Threats Watch

The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on June 2 allowing for the pursuit of pirates by foreign navies into Somali territorial waters. Since the collapse of Somalia’s central government, the anarchy on land has been accompanied by anarchy in its waters. With the lack of an effective maritime force to patrol this area of the Indian Ocean, piracy has been rife, with twenty six ships attacked by pirates in the last year. The resolution provides a six month timetable for foreign navies and Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government to work together in combating piracy.

Court Order Allows Rallies - Celia Dugger, New York Times

A Zimbabwe court ruled Saturday that opposition rallies planned for this weekend in Harare, the capital, should not have been banned by the police and may take place, Nelson Chamisa, a spokesman for the political opposition, said. But the court’s action has limited impact, Mr. Chamisa said. It was issued too late for two of the rallies, which were scheduled for Saturday in crowded urban townships, and it does not affect a nationwide police ban on opposition rallies, he said.

Voters Feel Mugabe's Bite - Swain and Follain, Times of London

As Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace flaunted their presence in Rome last week - he as a controversial guest at a United Nations food summit defending the brutal rule that has left Zimbabwe bleeding and impoverished, she closeted in a luxury hotel - a powerful group of military and security chiefs masterminding the president’s election battle was leaving nothing to chance. Led by Emmerson Mnangagwa, a sinister former spymaster known as “the Crocodile” who recently took control of the ruthless Joint Operations Command that now effectively runs the country, a violent crackdown was stepped up against the opposition and the voters who had the temerity to support it.

Zimbabwe Aid Cutoff Endangers 2 Million People - John Heilprin, Associated Press

At least 2 million people in Zimbabwe face greater risk of starvation, homelessness and disease because the government ordered aid groups to halt operations there, according to the UN's top humanitarian official. John Holmes, the UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, spoke Friday after the United States and Britain warned that Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's regime is using food and the threat of hunger as a weapon to cling to power ahead of the June 27 presidential runoff.

Tsvangirai LOists Mugabe's Thugs - Daily Telegraph of London

Zimbabwe's opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, has told The Sunday Telegraph he is gathering the names of government thugs to prosecute for attacking his supporters during the election campaign. In his first interview with a British newspaper since returning to Zimbabwe two weeks ago, Mr Tsvangirai said he would defy intimidation and go on campaigning for the June 27 election.

Zimbabwe Shelters Genocide Leader - Jon Swain, Times of London

One of the most notorious names in the Rwandan genocide - an officer whose troops killed the Rwandan prime minister and the Belgian soldiers protecting her - has been hiding in Zimbabwe, where he is suspected of enjoying business links with former army officers close to the country’s president, Robert Mugabe. United Nations sources named the fugitive as Major Protais Mpiranya, a Hutu extremist formerly in charge of the Rwandan presidential guard. Despite a $5m American bounty, Mpiranya has evaded justice for 14 years. But his presence has been detected, “sometimes in Zimbabwe and sometimes in the Congo”, a UN source said. Mpiranya is wanted for genocide and crimes against humanity by the UN’s war crimes tribunal for Rwanda.

You’re Safe, Mr Mugabe - Simon Jenkins, Times of London opinion

Robert Mugabe’s decision to ban relief for his desperate citizens infringes every canon of human decency. It puts the Zimbabwean government – perhaps too dignified a term – beyond the regimes even of Burma and Sudan in callousness. The crude device of state food for votes is a direct challenge to world sympathy, and to those who believe that such sympathy should be more than a collective cry of woe, and should motivate action. The human tragedies still being experienced in the Irrawaddy delta and in the deserts of Darfur are now unseen. They have vanished from the world’s screens, as old news is not news. Rulers in these countries have stopped the wellsprings of global reaction at their source, that of publicity.

Sudan Won't Hand Over Wanted Men - Sarah El Deeb, Associated Press

Sudan rejected demands Saturday to hand over a cabinet minister and a militia commander indicted on charges of crimes against humanity in Darfur. State Minister of Information Kamal Obeid was responding to a new call by the International Criminal Court prosecutor for Sudan to hand over Ahmed Harun, a cabinet minister, and Ali Kushayb, a militia commander. Both are accused of organizing a system to recruit, fund, arm and command a militia that terrorized villages in the western Sudanese region.

23 People Killed near Sudan-Congo Border - Tom Maliti, Associated Press

Fighting between Ugandan rebels and Sudanese soldiers killed at least 23 people in a remote area near the countries' border this week, rebel and military officials said. The reports of fighting - which could not be independently confirmed - came as peace talks between the Ugandan government and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army faltered. The rebel army has been waging one of Africa's longest and most brutal rebellions, drawing in the volatile region comprised of northern Uganda, eastern Congo and southern Sudan.

UN Looks to DR Congo Withdrawal - Mark Doyle, BBC News

A UN Security Council team has mooted eventually withdrawing peacekeepers from the Democratic Republic of Congo - the world's largest UN mission. The prospect was raised when diplomats on a tour of Africa's hotspots met Congolese President Joseph Kabila in his palace on the River Congo's banks. President Kabila reportedly said he hoped the UN could leave before the next presidential elections in 2011.

UN Envoys Back Congo's Kabila - Louis Charbonneau. Reuters

UN envoys met Congo President Joseph Kabila on Saturday and backed his plans to disarm and expel Rwandan rebels behind years of strife, and to refocus the biggest UN peace force on rebuilding his shattered nation. The ambassadors reassured Kabila the peacekeepers who have backed his army's efforts to control almost daily clashes with local militias and Rwandan Hutu rebels in eastern areas since a 1998-2003 war would not simply pack their bags and leave.

Death Toll Rises to 16 in Mogadishu Violence - Abdi Sheikh, Reuters

Eight more people died in Somalia's capital on Saturday, residents said, bringing the death toll in Mogadishu from two days of violence to 16. The rubble-strewn city had been relatively peaceful this week during tentative UN peace talks in Djibouti between the interim government and opposition figures based in Eritrea. But the calm was shattered on Friday when at least eight people were killed, and locals said eight more died on Saturday.

Somali BBC Contributor Shot Dead - BBC News

Gunmen in the southern Somali city of Kismayo have killed a local journalist. Nasteh Dahir, who worked for both the BBC and Associated Press news agency, was shot in the chest and stomach outside his home. The National Union of Somali Journalists said it was a "targeted assassination" and that the 26-year-old had received death threats.

Albinos Face Deadly Threat in Tanzania - Jeffrey Gettleman, New York Times

Discrimination against albinos is a serious problem throughout sub-Saharan Africa, but recently in Tanzania it has taken a wicked twist: at least 19 albinos, including children, have been killed and mutilated in the past year, victims of what Tanzanian officials say is a growing criminal trade in albino body parts. Many people in Tanzania - and across Africa, for that matter - believe albinos have magical powers. They stand out, often the lone white face in a black crowd, a result of a genetic condition that impairs normal skin pigmentation and strikes about 1 in 3,000 people here. Tanzanian officials say witch doctors are now marketing albino skin, bones and hair as ingredients in potions that are promised to make people rich.

13 People Dead in 2 Algerian Bombings - Aomar Ouali, Associated Press

Two bombs exploded Sunday at a train station in Algeria, killing 13 people and wounding several others, a security official said. Both bombs at the station in Beni Amrane, about 60 miles east of the North African nation's capital, were apparently triggered by remote control, the official said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Algeria's al-Qaida affiliate, al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa, is known to be active in the area. Islamic militants in the country have mounted increasing attacks over the past two years.

Diggers to Join UN Mission in Darfur - Patrick Walters, The Australian

Australia will send nine defence logistics experts to Darfur to assist the UN mission aimed at restoring stability to the troubled region of southern Sudan. The small Australian team will form part of the newly created Assistance Mission in Darfur, which is destined to become the UN's largest peacekeeping operation, with an estimated 20,000 troops and 6000 police and civilian personnel. The Australians will be located within the UNAMID headquarters based at El Fasher, inNorth Darfur, working on logistics, movement and operational issues.

Sudan Agreement on Abyei Reached - BBC News

Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir and the southern leader Salva Kiir are to use international arbiters in a dispute over the contested town of Abyei. An estimated 50,000 people fled from the oil-rich area during violent clashes last month which many feared could reignite a bloody civil war. After intense negotiations the two sides have now agreed on an interim administration for Abyei. The region's border will be considered by international arbitration.

Sudan Rivals Reach Agreement - Mohamed Osman, Associated Press

The leaders of Sudan's northern and southern halves signed an agreement Sunday to settle a dispute over the oil-rich Abyei region that, if implemented, could stop the nation's slide back into civil war. President Omar al-Bashir, from the Arab-dominated north, and First Vice President Salva Kiir, of the south, agreed to refer the matter to international arbitration and set up a new interim administration for the troubled border region.

Zimbabwe's 'Military Coup by Stealth' - Catherine Philp, Times of London

The campaign of terror sweeping Zimbabwe is being directly organised by a junta that took over the running of the country after Robert Mugabe’s shock election defeat in March. Details of the organised violence are contained in a report released today by Human Rights Watch, corroborated by senior Western diplomats who describe the situation in Zimbabwe as a “military coup by stealth”. The human-rights group and the diplomats name Zimbabwe’s effective rulers as the Joint Operations Command, a shadowy security politburo made up of military and police generals, senior intelligence officers, prison service officials and leaders of the ruling Zanu (PF) party.

Militias Block Zimbabwe Opposition Rally - Associated Press

Opposition officials accused ruling party militias of preventing their party from holding a rally in a suburb of the capital Sunday, a day after a court lifted a ban on opposition gatherings. Movement for Democratic Change spokesman Nelson Chamisa said President Robert Mugabe's supporters cordoned off the area where opposition leaders were to speak, forcing the opposition to cancel the rally.

Zimbabwe Opposition MP Released - BBC News

A court in Zimbabwe has ordered the release of an opposition MP who had been arrested for the second time in a week on public order charges. Authorities suspected Movement for Democratic Change lawmaker Eric Matinenga of election-related violence. The MDC says Mr Matinenga is being harassed and accuses the government of trying to sabotage its poll campaign.

Zimbabwe Braced for Endgame - Richard Dowden, Times of London opinion

The next three weeks in Zimbabwe will be the most traumatic in its history. Robert Mugabe has declared war on the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), NGOs and churches to reverse the electoral defeat he suffered in March. It is a war on unarmed people. Can he win it and what would victory mean? Scenario one: When the votes are counted after a peaceful, well-organised and credible election on June 27, President Mugabe concedes defeat, congratulates Morgan Tsvangirai, hands over the reins of power and retires. Likelihood? Zero.

Zimbabwe's Suicide - Paul Moorcraft, Washington Times opinion

Robert Mugabe gave me a long interview in early 1980. He was the brightest and most impressive politician I had met in Africa. He preached reconciliation with his enemies. Now, in Zimbabwe, he is reviled as a murderous tyrant. The idea that absolute power over 28 years, plus senility, has caused him eventually to become demented is not convincing. Mr. Mugabe's utterly sober and single-minded determination and ruthlessness have always been marks of his character. He was a tough guerrilla leader in his liberation war. After independence from Britain in April 1980, he wiped out his tribal opposition in Matabeleland, killing more than 10,000 people in the first years of his rule.

Somali Peace Talks Splutter in Djibouti - Omar Hassan, Reuters

A UN-led peace initiative for Somalia appears to have failed, with government and opposition delegations refusing to meet face-to-face in Djibouti to try to end 18 years of conflict. "I made the decision to terminate the conference," UN envoy for Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, told a news conference in Djibouti late on Sunday. In the most recent failed international diplomatic initiative, Ould-Abdallah persuaded teams from both sides to come twice to neighboring Djibouti in May and this month.

UN Pushes Peace Effort in Congo's East - Edith Lederer, Associated Press

The UN Security Council renewed a push for civilian rule in Congo's militia-plagued east on Sunday as efforts continue to disarm rebel groups and finally restore peace to the ravaged region. The country's hilly eastern border area - the scene of the worst fighting and a humanitarian crisis in the Central African nation - has been lawless for so long that citizens have given up on any sort of government, France's UN Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert said as the group toured Goma, a major eastern city.

Campaign of Violence Continues - Scott Baldauf, Christian Science Monitor

The options for resolving Zimbabwe's crisis are dwindling as political violence rises ahead of the June 27 presidential elections. International analysts now have little faith in the credibility of the vote - or their ability to improve the process. They suggest that any resolution is likely to come through mediation. Zimbabwean authorities detained and harassed US and British diplomats last week while they were on a fact-finding mission over political violence. Normally, harassment of diplomats is the sort of thing that brings on sanctions and sternly worded statements in the United Nations. But for Zimbabwe - which has rolled out a series of strong-armed measures against opposition party activists, international aid agencies, and tens of thousands of its own people - harassment is now commonplace.

Mugabe's Thugs Turn to Burning People Alive - Jan Raath, Times of London

For a wad of worthless Zimbabwean banknotes President Mugabe’s militias burnt six-year-old Nyasha Mashoko to death. The target of the Zanu (PF) thugs had been the boy’s father, Brian Mamhova. They came for him on Friday night - three truckloads of them, plus a Mercedes Benz from which alighted three armed men in suits, Mr Mamhova said. The militiamen had been promised Z$25 trillion (£12,500) to kill him, which seems a high price on the head of a district councillor but which is no problem for a Government that sees printing money as the best way out of a crisis.

Crackdown by Harare's Junta - The Australian

Zimbabwe's opposition last night feared a new crackdown as authorities vowed to "get tough" on perpetrators of political violence in the approach to this month's run-off election. As a leading rights group warned mounting violence had extinguished chances of a free and fair ballot, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change said a vow by authorities to deny bail to anyone suspected of committing or inciting unrest would be used to further hamper their election campaign.

Fair Runoff Vote in Impossible - Robyn Dixon, Los Angeles Times

Persistent violence by government agents and supporters is making it impossible for Zimbabwe to hold a fair presidential runoff election this month, according to a report released Monday by New York-based Human Rights Watch. The study, which included interviews with victims, details violence against opposition supporters across the country and the creation of "no-go zones" in rural areas to deny access to foreign journalists and human rights workers and prevent them from witnessing the abuses.

Fair Poll Impossible in Zimbabwe - Barry Moody, Reuters

A systematic government campaign of murder and brutality has eliminated any chance of a fair presidential election in Zimbabwe, an international rights group said on Monday. A report by US-based Human Rights Watch said it had documented at least 36 politically-motivated murders and 2,000 victims of a campaign of killings, abductions, beatings and torture by the ruling ZANU-PF party of President Robert Mugabe. It said more than 3,000 people had fled the violence which began after March 29 elections in which ZANU-PF lost control of parliament for the first time and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai beat Mugabe in the presidential race.

Center to Help Repatriated Refugees - Hilary Stohs-Krause, Washington Times

The International Organization for Migration has opened a reception site near the Zimbabwe-Botswana border, as neighboring countries push Zimbabwean refugees back into the economically ruined and violence scarred country they attempted to flee. About 4,000 Zimbabwean migrants are deported from Botswana every month, according to the IOM, and they need help. Violence is on the rise in Zimbabwe, as the government cracks down on political opposition before June 27 runoff elections, in which President Robert Mugabe is attempting to extend his 28-year rule.

US, EU to call for UN Monitors in Zimbabwe - Ingrid Melander, Reuters

The United States and European Union plan a joint call for UN monitors to be sent to Zimbabwe after a human rights group alleged systematic government murder and brutality ahead of a presidential vote. "We urge the United Nations Secretary-General to send a team immediately to monitor human rights and to deter further abuses," said the final draft of a communique to be issued at a US-EU summit in Slovenia on Tuesday.

Somali Government and Foes Sign Deal - Elizaeth Kennedy, Associated Press

Somalia's government signed an agreement Monday with an opposition alliance calling for an end to violence and the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops, whose presence has stoked an increasingly bloody Islamic insurgency. The deal is an important step toward peace, but it remains to be seen if it will be respected by hard-line members of the opposition who have denounced those who took part in the UN-led talks in Djibouti. Al-Shabab, the military wing of Somalia's ousted Islamic movement, did not participate in the Djibouti talks. The State Department considers al-Shabab, or "The Youth," a terrorist organization.

Somali Factions Sign Peace Deal in Djibouti - Omar Hassan, Reuters

Somalia's interim government and some opposition figures signed a peace deal on Monday that called for the rapid deployment of a robust UN stabilization force in the Horn of Africa nation. It was the latest in a string of such agreements. Opposition hardliners in exile and insurgents inside Somalia had dismissed the UN-led talks in Djibouti so it was unclear what effect it might have on the ground.

Islamist Head Rejects UN-sponsored Pact - Aweys Yusuf, Reuters

A hardline Islamist leader rejected on Tuesday a UN-brokered peace pact signed in Djibouti by the Somali government and some opposition figures, and vowed that war would continue. "We don't see that as a peace deal, we see it as a trap," Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys told Reuters by phone from Eritrea. "We encourage the insurgents and the Somali people not to be tired of combating the enemy."

Nigerian Militants Seize Oil Vessel With 8 Sailors - Reuters

Armed militants in southern Nigeria ambushed an oil vessel belonging to Canada's Addax Petroleum Corp. on Monday and are holding eight naval personnel on board, a navy spokesman said. "Some naval ratings escorting an Addax boat were ambushed by militants who boarded the ship. There was limited exchange of gunfire because of the combustible nature of the cargo," Nigerian navy spokesman Henry Babalola said. He said the vessel had left the Calabar area near Nigeria's southeastern border with Cameroon and was heading towards Onne in Rivers state, part of the Niger Delta which is home to Africa's biggest oil industry.

UN to Cut Aid Flights to Sudan - Stephanie McCrummen, Washington Post

Humanitarian flights that deliver doctors, aid workers and supplies to remote areas of Sudan's western Darfur region are being cut because of lack of funding, the UN World Food Program said Tuesday. The threat of bandits on Darfur's roads during the past year has forced aid groups to increasingly rely on helicopters and other flights to gain access to the region, where an estimated 2.5 million people are displaced because of conflict. The air transport is provided by the UN's Humanitarian Air Service. But funding for the service, which costs about $77 million a year, has become tenuous as the conflict has dragged into its fifth year.

Sudanese Soldiers and Rebels Clash in Darfur - Andrew Heavens, Reuters

Sudanese soldiers and rebels said on Tuesday they had clashed in a remote territory of Darfur over the weekend. The rebel Sudan Liberation Movement's Unity (SLM-Unity) faction said it killed 157 Sudanese soldiers after ambushing an army brigade near Um Keddada in North Darfur on Sunday. SLM-Unity spokesman Mahgoub Hussein said by email the insurgents had defeated the Sudanese troops, seized a large number of weapons and vehicles, and lost seven of their own fighters.

Zimbabwe 'Run by Military Junta' - BBC News

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai says Zimbabwe "is effectively being run by a military junta". He said 66 opposition supporters had been killed in political violence since March's disputed presidential elections and 200 more were unaccounted for. Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change says he beat President Robert Mugabe outright. Officials say there must be a run-off on 27 June. Mr Tsvangirai said he would not accept a victory for Mr Mugabe in the run-off.

Tsvangirai Rejects Unity Government - MacDonald Dzirutwe, Reuters

Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai rejected calls on Tuesday for a national unity government instead of a presidential runoff vote and said his party was sure to win the election despite government violence. Tsvangirai told a news conference Zimbabwe had suffered a de facto coup and was being run by a military junta. Some 66 supporters of his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) had been killed since disputed March elections, he said.

Hope and Doubt Over Somalia Peace Deal - Jeffrey Gettleman, New York Times

Peace is no small feat in Somalia, and if the reaction to the accord struck on Monday night is any gauge, peace may still be a long way off. On Tuesday, militant Islamist leaders immediately rejected the deal, which had been signed by moderate Islamists and the beleaguered transitional government of Somalia. “The so-called deal is rubbish and inconsequential,” Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, a strident Islamist leader, told The Associated Press. “It will not in any way result in peace.” Instead, he said, the deal will bring more bloodshed. He was among the key Islamist figures who boycotted the peace talks, which had been organized by the United Nations to end the combat between Somalia’s transitional government and a determined insurgency.

Congo Warlord Wants Case Dismissed - Arthur Max, Associated Press

A lawyer for a former Congolese warlord asked a war crimes court Tuesday to dismiss the case against his client because UN agencies have refused to disclose evidence they gave to prosecutors. Defense attorney Jean-Marie Biju Duval said the "scandalous" secrecy meant his client, Thomas Lubanga, would not receive a fair trial on charges of recruiting, conscripting and deploying child soldiers to fight in eastern Congo in 2002-03.

Mugabe's Militia Burn Opponent’s Wife Alive - Jan Raath, Times of London

The men who pulled up in three white pickup trucks were looking for Patson Chipiro, head of the Zimbabwean opposition party in Mhondoro district. His wife, Dadirai, told them he was in Harare but would be back later in the day, and the men departed. An hour later they were back. They grabbed Mrs Chipiro and chopped off one of her hands and both her feet. Then they threw her into her hut, locked the door and threw a petrol bomb through the window. The killing last Friday - one of the most grotesque atrocities committed by Robert Mugabe’s regime since independence in 1980 - was carried out on a wave of worsening brutality before the run-off presidential elections in just over two weeks. It echoed the activities of Foday Sankoh, the rebel leader in the Sierra Leone civil war that ended in 2002, whose trade-mark was to chop off hands and feet.

American Aid Is Seized in Zimbabwe - Celia Dugger, New York Times

Zimbabwean authorities confiscated a truck loaded with 20 tons of American food aid for poor schoolchildren and ordered that the wheat and pinto beans aboard be handed out to supporters of President Robert Mugabe at a political rally instead, the American ambassador said Wednesday. “This government will stop at nothing, even starving the most defenseless people in the country - young children - to realize their political ambitions,” said the ambassador, James D. McGee, in an interview. The government ordered all humanitarian aid groups to suspend their operations last week, charging that some of them were giving out food as bribes to win votes for the opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, in a June 27 presidential runoff against Mr. Mugabe.

Mugabe Deploys Veterans to Boost Campaign - Cris Chinaka, Reuters

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's party said on Wednesday it would deploy more war veterans to campaign in opposition areas ahead of a presidential election run-off marred by violence. Opposition Movement for Democratic Change leader (MDC) Morgan Tsvangirai accuses the ruling ZANU-PF of widespread attacks on his supporters but says he is confident of victory in the June 27 poll after beating Mugabe in the first round. A senior UN official will visit Zimbabwe next week to discuss the political situation and forthcoming presidential elections, a UN spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

Disown this Dictator - Washington Times editorial

Where are the election observers as Zimbabwe's June 27 presidential election approaches? They are barred, at least the major Western observers, by Robert Mugabe's regime. Mr. Mugabe has promised to invite several regional bodies, including the African Union and the South African Development Community, but he has not yet done so. This means that just two weeks before the election, there are no observers in place. Little wonder. They would find a climate of voter intimidation, no meaningful campaign activity and the arrest - in some cases the murder - of opposition figures on the pretext of "security."

Escalating Djibouti-Eritrea Clash - Reuters

Border clashes between Eritrea and Djibouti have killed 9 Djiboutian soldiers and wounded 60 others in three days of fighting between the Horn of Africa nations, a defense official said on Thursday. In the first fighting since the mid-1990s between two of Africa's smallest states, Eritrean and Djiboutian troops have exchanged fire along a part of their shared border overlooking strategic shipping lanes in the Red Sea.

Moroccan Court Convicts 29 of Plotting Terrorism - Associated Press

A Moroccan court convicted 29 people of planning terrorism attacks and supporting combatants in Iraq, the official MAP news agency said Wednesday. The criminal court in Sale, near Rabat, convicted 27 members of an alleged Islamic extremist group late Tuesday and sentenced them to prison terms ranging from two to eight years, MAP said. Two suspects were convicted in absentia and sentenced to a year in prison, it said. The group, known as the Tetouan cell after the northern Moroccan town where most of the defendants came from, was accused of having ideological, financial and logistical ties to several terrorist organizations, including al-Qaida.

Pirates Terrorize Nigeria’s Fishing Fleet - Will Connors, New York Times

Early this year, the crew members of the Mareena 1 fishing trawler had just finished hauling in their catch 15 miles off the coast and were settling into their bunks for a few hours of sleep when they were awakened by machine-gun fire. Nine heavily armed men in a speedboat attacked the trawler, and the boat’s cook was shot in the stomach. He bled to death while the pirates, who had boarded the boat, ate, took naps and stole everything that was not welded down. “There were attacks before, but it’s the worst now,” said Geoffrey, the captain of the Mareena 1, who gave only his first name out of fear of reprisals. “Formerly, we had hijackings and they would steal everything, but now they attack and they are shooting and taking lives.” The waters off the 530-mile Nigerian coastline have been called the most dangerous in the world by a maritime watchdog group after a precipitous rise in the number of attacks over the past year. And while kidnappings of foreigners and attacks on oil installations in Nigeria have gained international attention, it is often those with a far lower profile who bear the greatest burden of the lawlessness at sea.

Opposing Mugabe Now 'Treason' - Jan Raath, Times of London

The crackdown on the Opposition in Zimbabwe intensified yesterday with the arrest of its deputy leader on the charge of treason, as he arrived back in the country from a week-long trip to South Africa. Tendai Biti, the secretary-general of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), was met at Harare airport by five plainclothes officers who handcuffed him and led him to an unknown police station. The police said that Mr Biti was to be charged with publishing a “treasonous document” outlining MDC plans to return all land seized from white farmers and to dismiss all members of the military and police service if it won the presidential election at the end of this month. If found guilty, he could be sentenced to death.

Zimbabwe Detains Opposition Leaders - Dugger and Cowell, New York Times

The standard bearer for Zimbabwe’s opposition was twice detained by police on Thursday and one of his most important deputies was arrested to face treason charges, underscoring the daunting obstacles to campaigning against President Robert Mugabe in the two weeks before a presidential runoff. The opposition presidential candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, had already been detained twice last week, but was held up by police twice more on Thursday in what was supposed to have been a day of rallies and campaigning, his party said. The arrest of Tendai Biti, the party’s secretary general, was even more chilling for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. He was swiftly apprehended at Harare airport on Thursday as he returned to the country from South Africa after a self-imposed absence of two months. He will be charged with treason, a police spokesman said.

Opposition Official Arrested in Zimbabwe - Washington Post

Zimbabwean government's crackdown on political opponents took an ominous turn Thursday with the arrest of the opposition party's No. 2 official, who was charged with treason and could face the death penalty. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was also arrested Thursday, in a pattern of harassment two weeks before he is to face President Robert Mugabe in a presidential runoff election. Tsvangirai has been arrested four times in recent days, but has not been charged in any of the incidents.

China Steps Up Pressure on Sudan Over Darfur - Edward Cody, Washington Post

President Hu Jintao strongly urged Sudan to cooperate in the swift deployment of international peacekeeping forces and to help end humanitarian abuses in the country's embattled Darfur region, the official Communist Party newspaper said Thursday. The Chinese leader, in a meeting with visiting Sudanese Vice President Ali Uthman Muhammad Taha, used unusually frank language in calling on the Khartoum government to try harder to settle the conflict along Sudan's western border and "allow people there to reconstruct their homeland," according to the People's Daily.

Top Opposition Official Still Missing in Zimbabwe - Barry Bearak, New York Times

A high court judge in Zimbabwe on Friday ordered the police to produce Tendai Biti, the opposition party’s secretary general and chief strategist, who was arrested Thursday the moment he re-entered the country and whose whereabouts has since remained a mystery. “We have sent teams of lawyers to every police station in Harare but have failed to find where they have him,” said Nelson Chamisa, a spokesman for the Movement for Democratic Change. “We are concerned now for his security, his safekeeping, his life; he has fallen into the jaws of danger.” The police have said Mr. Biti will be charged with treason, a capital offense. But the opposition leader has not been seen by associates since he was swiftly handcuffed at Harare’s airport and hustled away.

African Leaders Denounce Mugabe’s Violence - Philp and Raath, Times of London

International outrage over the crack-down in Zimbabwe grew yesterday as African leaders called for the release of a top opposition leader arrested on the capital charge of treason. The whereabouts of Tendai Biti, the deputy leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), remained unknown the day after police arrested and handcuffed him as he disembarked at Harare airport. The High Court ordered police to produce Mr Biti before the court this morning after the MDC filed a case on his behalf, saying it was deeply worried about his welfare. The party had earlier “dispatched a team of lawyers and human rights defenders to every possible police station in Harare in an effort to secure his whereabouts”, but they were unable to locate him.

Mugabe Warns of Uprising if He Loses - MacDonald Dzirutwe, Reuters

President Robert Mugabe said Friday that liberation war veterans would take up arms if he loses a June 27 presidential runoff vote. Mr. Mugabe told youth members of his ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party in the capital Harare that the veterans had told him they would launch a new bush war if the election was won by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, whom he accuses of being a puppet of the West.

Crisis May Be Boon for Small Farmers - Edmund Sanders, Los Angeles Times

In Africa, a place all too familiar with chronic malnutrition and recurring famines, the international food crisis is playing out in some surprising ways. Soaring prices are pummeling urban dwellers who rely on imported food and often earn less than $2 a day. Riots have already rocked Somalia and Cameroon. But in rural areas, home to most Africans, small farmers live largely on what they grow. The food crisis could be a boon for such farmers, who depend far more on last season's rainfall and the condition of local roads than on crude oil prices. As governments focus on reducing their dependency on imports, small farmers are poised to receive some overdue assistance. And rising prices will mean farmers have incentives to plant more after decades of productivity declining under the weight of poverty, foreign competition and a marketplace flooded with subsidized food.

South Africa: Going South - Times of London editorial

The atrocities now being committed daily in Zimbabwe have reached a bestial nadir. Those daring to challenge Robert Mugabe are beaten and killed. Their wives are mutilated and burnt alive in their homes. Their villages are denied food and their families starved into submission. The bravery and tenacity, nevertheless, of Morgan Tsvangirai and fellow opposition supporters is extraordinary and heartening. What is appalling, however, is that as Zimbabwe disintegrates, the country that could have done much to halt the brutalities and avert the chaos stands by in shameful silence. South Africa's failure to curb Mr Mugabe's excesses is a terrible indictment of its leadership. But it is also a warning. South Africa itself is in trouble. The powerhouse of Africa is running out of power. Fourteen years after the end of apartheid, such a judgment might seem harsh. The country has avoided a race war. Its growth rate in recent years has been an impressive 5 per cent. Tourism is holding up, as are exports. The country has won global sporting renown and been rewarded with its selection as the venue of the next World Cup in 2010. But even as the stadium girders go up and concrete is poured for a high-speed rail link (see page 47), fears are growing within the country and outside that the showcase event will be overwhelmed by the violence, political tensions and infrastructure failures that point to alarming social, economic and political breakdown.

Mugabe Vows to Go to War Before Ceding - Barry Bearak, New York TImes

The Zimbabwean president, Robert Mugabe, sounding ever more pugnacious, said Saturday that he was prepared to go to war if he lost a runoff election to the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on June 27. Mr. Mugabe finished second to Mr. Tsvangirai in balloting on March 29, but the margin was not enough to avoid a runoff. Mr. Mugabe portrays his challenger as a bootlicker to the British, Zimbabwe’s colonial masters. And he seems determined to deter Mr. Tsvangirai from publicly responding to his invectives and threats.

Mugabe Pledges to Fight 'Lackeys' - BBC News

President Robert Mugabe has vowed that the main opposition party will never lead Zimbabwe and said he was prepared to "go to war" for his country. He is due to face Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, in a 27 June run-off poll. Mr Tsvangirai was released after being arrested for the fifth time this week. Meanwhile, deputy MDC leader Tendai Biti appeared in court in Harare, where a judge is to rule on the legality of his arrest on treason charges.

A Blind Eye to Mugabe's Reign of Terror - Jeff Jacoby, Boston Globe opinion

The agonies being inflicted on Zimbabwe by its corrupt and brutal president are worsening. Last week, the government of Robert Mugabe ordered international aid agencies to put a halt to the operations that have been keeping hundreds of thousands of Zimbabwe's people alive. With most of the country's population out of work and in dire poverty, the food and other humanitarian assistance provided by groups like CARE and Save the Children are more desperately needed than ever. By shutting them down, Mugabe and his henchmen were knowingly condemning countless vulnerable Zimbabweans to death. Mugabe claimed, preposterously, that the humanitarian agencies were trying "to cripple Zimbabwe's economy" and bring about "illegal regime change." Actually, it his own demented and dictatorial misrule that has destroyed the country, turning what was once a prosperous land into the world's most rapidly collapsing economy. And it is his determination to cling to power by any means - including starving and terrorizing voters who support a change in government - that has filled Zimbabwe not just with hunger and sickness but with savagery and bloodshed as well.

Chadian Rebels Launch Attack - BBC News

Anti-government rebels in Chad have launched an attack on the town of Goz Beida, near the border with Sudan. The United Nations reported fighting in the town, which is home to 15,000 Darfur refugees. Irish EU peacekeepers returned fire after coming under attack in the town, which rebels captured briefly. A rebel leader said they would advance to the capital N'Djamena. A Chadian minister said government forces were preparing to defend the city.

S. Africa Mob Burns Mozambican Man - BBC News

A Mozambican man has been burned alive by a mob during disturbances near the South African capital Pretoria. The 30-year-old was stoned then set alight in Atteridgeville township after being accused of an arson attack on a shack the day before, said police. Three suspects were held for murder and robbery as 2,000 rand ($246 £126) were stolen from the man, police said. Atteridgeville was the scene of a spate of recent attacks on foreigners, in which 62 people died.

Pro-Mugabe War Vets Draw Hard Line - Scott Baldauf, Christian Science Monitor

The man behind Zimbabwe's most feared militia, the War Veterans, has all the credentials of a dedicated fighter except one: He's never fought in combat. Graduating from boot camp in Angola just after Zimbabwe's "war of liberation" against white-minority rule ended in 1980, Jabulani Sibanda soldiered on as an organizer for President Robert Mugabe's ruling party, the ZANU-PF. It was Mr. Sibanda who led so-called war veterans to take white-owned farms by force, starting in 2000. Today, Sibanda - one of the hardest hard-liners in the ruling ZANU-PF - is blamed for orchestrating attacks on opposition supporters in the lead-up to a runoff election on June 27. "We are definitely winning," says a confident Sibanda, in an exclusive interview in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Despite South African-sponsored talks held last week, Sibanda says there is no possibility of a power-sharing deal between Mr. Mugabe's party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.

Britain Leads Call for Sanctions - Coates and Clayton, Times of London

Britain and its international allies will urge South Africa to cut off electricity supplies to Zimbabwe if Robert Mugabe steals the election in two weeks’ time, The Times has learnt. Plans are being drawn up to persuade Zimbabwe’s allies to mount an economic blockade and diplomats are considering a ban on the children of the elite going to school in Europe if Mr Mugabe loses the election but refuses to step down. Concern is growing at the scale of the violence and intimidation before the rerun of the presidential election on June 27, with David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, describing yesterday as “sadism” the murder and torture in the country.

Stop Mugabe, African Leaders Urged - Paul Maley, The Australian

Kevin Rudd has called on African nations to do more to rein in the excesses of Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, warning that the ageing despot looks set to "steal" another election. Mr Rudd said it was incumbent on African leaders to ensure Mugabe respected the result of the June 27 presidential runoff with Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who was on Saturday detained by the regime's thugs for the fifth time in about 10 days. "Our concern and the concern of most countries around the world is that Mr Mugabe will steal this election," Mr Rudd said in Darwin. "Therefore, it's important that the international community of nations, including the African Union and the South African development council, speak with one voice about the importance of democracy and the will of the people prevailing in Zimbabwe." The comments from Mr Rudd followed the promise by Mugabe to fight to keep Mr Tsvangirai from power, as the MDC's secretary-general, Tendai Biti, appeared in a Harare court facing a charge carrying a potential death sentence.

Zimbabwe's Mugabe Vows No Surrender to 'Sellouts' - Associated Press

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe says he will only hand over power to those who share his ideology. Mugabe faces opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in a June 27 presidential runoff. The state-controlled Sunday Mail quoted Mugabe at a rally Saturday sounding a familiar campaign theme: portraying Tsvangirai as a puppet of the US and Britain. Tsvangirai denies the allegations.

Mugabe's Achilles Heel is His Wallet - Nick Clegg, Times of London opinion

In less than two weeks the fate of the people of Zimbabwe will be determined by the result of a run-off presidential election. If Robert Mugabe is allowed to steal that election the tragedy will be complete. The scale of the catastrophe that Mugabe has precipitated in his country is almost unimaginable. In just ten years, life expectancy has plummeted from 61 years to less than 36 - the lowest in the world. The economy has disintegrated - inflation by the official measure stood at 164,900 per cent in April, unemployment is more than 80 per cent; the shops are empty, the health service has collapsed, the school system no longer functions and millions of Zimbabweans have fled. Amid the chaos and misery for ordinary Zimbabweans there exists a grotesque contrast. It is to be found in the ostentatious houses, newly built in the suburbs of Harare by Mugabe's party cronies and the military top brass; in the expensive cars that chauffeur the Zanu (PF) elite around the capital and the luxury foods available to those with access to foreign currency. But this grotesque contrast is most sinisterly apparent in the foreign currency miraculously found to arm and equip the forces that brutalise Mugabe's opponents, while public services and infrastructure crumble.

Sudan to Deploy Troops in Abyei - Amber Henshaw, BBC News

A joint battalion of Sudan's northern and southern troops is to move into the disputed oil-rich town of Abyei on Tuesday, their commander has said. The deployment is part of a plan to defuse tension in the area after heavy clashes last month which left about 60 dead and thousands of people displaced. President Omar al-Bashir and his southern Vice-President, Salva Kiir, agreed on the plan last week. The crisis in Abyei has sparked fears of another civil war in the country.

Chad Rebels Say Occupy Town Closer to Capital - Finbarr O'Reilly, Reuters

Chadian rebels mounting what they say is a new offensive against President Idriss Deby advanced deeper into the country from the east on Sunday, briefly occupying the town of Am-Dam, rebel spokesmen said. Another rebel column attacked the eastern town of Goz-Beida on Saturday, engaging government troops in heavy fighting before pulling back towards the Sudanese border 70 km (40 miles) away. Oil-producing Chad and Sudan accuse each other of backing insurgents who have attacked both capitals this year.

After 15 Years, Hints of Peace in Burundi - Jeffrey Gettleman, New York Times

After 15 years of off-again-on-again civil war, the last of Burundi’s rebel groups has finally come to the negotiating table. A cease-fire signed in late May is still holding, and for the first time all the decision makers - including top rebel leaders who until recently had been demonized as terrorists and commanded troops from exile - are in the same place, here in the capital, Bujumbura. Burundi, with a population of 8.7 million, is one of the smallest countries in Africa. Its troubles have often disappeared into the shadow cast by its neighbor Congo, where millions have died in a series of seemingly endless conflicts that rage on to this day. Just north of Burundi is Rwanda, which was racked by genocide in 1994 when Hutu death squads exterminated 800,000 people, most of them Tutsi.

Panel Urges G-8 to Increase Africa Aid - Michael Abramowitz, Washington Post

A panel of prominent figures led by former UN secretary general Kofi Annan is warning that the Group of Eight industrialized countries must step up their assistance to Africa or risk breaking their promise to double aid by 2010. In a report to be released in London this morning, the Africa Progress Panel describes a "mixed picture" of G-8 progress toward meeting aid targets that were set over the years at annual summits. Industrialized countries have eliminated a considerable amount of African debt, but they have not done as well on direct aid: Without major increases, "most countries will be well below" the collective target of $130 billion in aid by 2010, according to the panelists.

US-Africa Alliance to Help Farmers - Howard LaFranchi, Christian Science Monitor

Convinced the global food crisis has no quick fixes, the international community is beginning to team up with agriculture experts to find long-term solutions to the challenge – with a particular emphasis on Africa. Taking some cues from past successes – especially from the first "green revolution" in Asia – and mixing them with new technologies, aid donors and agriculture experts are placing new emphasis on infrastructure development, efficient farm-to-market systems, and distribution of new and better seeds and fertilizers. The new focus is also increasingly on the small farmer who, as Kofi Annan notes, in the case of Africa is more often than not a woman.

UN Criticizes Sudan Over War Crimes Suspects - Mark Heilprin, Associated Press

The UN Security Council called Monday on Sudan to arrest and hand over two Darfur war crimes suspects for prosecution by the International Criminal Court. Sudan has repeatedly rejected UN demands to hand over Ahmed Harun, a Cabinet minister, and Ali Kushayb, a militia commander. The two face 51 charges, including murder, rape and forced expulsions in 2003 and 2004 in Darfur. They are accused of organizing a system to recruit, fund, arm and command a militia that terrorized villages in the western Sudanese region. Monday's action was notable because it was backed by both China, a strong protector of Sudan, and the United States. It occurred during the month when the US holds the council's rotating presidency.

UN Council Says Sudan Must Heed Court on Darfur - Louis Charbonneau, Reuters

Sudan must stop turning a blind eye to crimes committed during the conflict in Darfur and hand over suspected war criminals to the International Criminal Court, the UN Security Council said on Monday. "The council urges the government of Sudan and all other parties to the conflict in Darfur to fully cooperate with the court, consistent with resolution 1593 (from 2005), in order to put an end to impunity for crimes committed in Darfur," the council said in a unanimously approved statement.

The Genocide Continues - New York Times editorial

Despite the dispatch of United Nations peacekeepers to Darfur and the issuing of international arrest warrants for leaders of the genocide, the killing goes on. So does the burning of villages, the bombing of schools and the systematic rape of women and girls. And it will continue until the Security Council shows the will to stop it. The Council needs to get more peacekeepers, helicopters and reconnaissance planes in the field, enforce the arrest warrants and increase diplomatic and financial pressure to get Sudan to stop obstructing the work of the peacekeepers. But the Council has shown little urgency in doing any of that. Thwarted by Sudan and the United Nations’ own bureaucratic rules, far less than half of an anticipated force of 26,000 international soldiers and police officers is now in Darfur. That is too small to protect the population, or even the peacekeepers themselves. An additional 100,000 people have been forced from their homes since the peacekeepers began arriving in January.

Khartoum's Genocidal Despot - Washington Times editorial

Mia Farrow, now a persistent human-rights activist, won world attention when, in the Wall Street Journal last year, she described China's forthcoming time of glory in August as "the genocide Olympics" because China is a prime buyer and investor in Sudan's oil as well as an arms supplier to that government's continuing genocide in Sudan. It is also a protector of Sudan at the UN Security Council from serious accountability for its horrifying atrocities in Darfur. On May 28, the former actress, who has become a world-class exposer of nations' crimes against their citizens, wrote a letter to President Bush that began: "I have just returned from my ninth trip to the region affected by the Darfur tragedy, now in its sixth year. I am writing to urge you to use the remaining months of your presidency to end the genocide in western Sudan and to make lasting peace in the region a legacy of your administration." She continued by giving justified credit to the Bush administration's "essential role in securing the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) formally ending Sudan's (20-year) North-South Conflict (with 2 million dead)." That peace agreement, she told the president, is "fast unraveling and in urgent need of attention."

Cox and Forkum Mugabe Warns Zimbabwe's Voters - Raath and Philp, Times of London

Robert Mugabe gave warning yesterday that he would not cede power if he loses next week’s election to the Opposition in his most explicit statement yet of his refusal to respect the result. State-controlled media reported his comments to supporters at an election rally, the latest in a series of increasingly menacing threats as Zimbabwe counts down to the June 27 presidential run-off poll. Mr Mugabe’s military-backed regime has been carrying out a campaign of violence aimed at wiping out the opposition vote. “We fought for this country, and a lot of blood was shed,” Mr Mugabe told his supporters. “We are not going to give up our country because of a mere X. How can a ballpoint fight with a gun?”

British Map out Robert Mugabe Endgame - The Australian

World powers are preparing an economic blockade of Zimbabwe if Robert Mugabe steals the election due in two weeks, as the isolated despot yesterday said he would be willing to hand power to a ruling party ally. Britain and its international allies indicated yesterday they would urge South Africa to cut off electricity supplies to Zimbabwe if Mugabe rigged the June 27 presidential runoff to stay in power. Plans are being drawn up to persuade Zimbabwe's allies to mount an economic blockade and diplomats are considering a ban on the children of the elite going to school in Europe if Mugabe loses the election but refuses to step down. British officials are also examining ways of widening sanctions against Zimbabwe in ways that will not hurt the population further.

UN Envoy Set for Zimbabwe Talks - BBC News

A senior UN official has arrived in Zimbabwe for a five-day visit ahead of the presidential run-off vote, which continues to be marred by violence. Haile Menkerios is expected to meet politicians to discuss the situation in the run-up to the election on 27 June. Violence is reported to have spread to urban areas near Harare, with opposition activists complaining of being attacked near the capital.

Somali Crisis 'Worse than Darfur' - Adam Mynott, BBC News

The number of people in Somalia in need of emergency food aid is likely to rise to about 3.5m in the coming months, the United Nations has warned. Mark Bowden, the UN's humanitarian co-ordinator for the region, says the food crisis is dramatically worsening. Somalia faces a worse situation than Darfur, Mr Bowden says. Contributing to the crisis are fighting between rival militias, successive droughts, sharply rising food prices and a collapse of the Somali currency.

France and China Talk... Somalia - Galrahn, Information Dissemination

France has essentially taken over on the international diplomatic front in regards to Somalia, and we can add this bit of news to the developing discussion regarding the international approach to dealing with piracy. We are not really sure what kind of intelligence assets China brings to the table off the coast of Somalia, but this is an interesting development nonetheless. We still don't believe the Europeans and Americans can bring piracy to a halt regionally without either getting more aggressive, or bringing in new partners to build a larger international coalition.

South African Leader Visits Mugabe - Dugger and Cowell, New York Times

With Zimbabwe’s runoff election only nine days away, President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, the region’s most powerful nation, met Wednesday with Zimbabwe’s strongman, President Robert Mugabe, as a rising chorus of voices warned that a fair vote could be impossible. It is far from clear that Mr. Mbeki, chosen by regional leaders to mediate Zimbabwe’s political crisis, has the clout to persuade Mr. Mugabe to halt the systematic, state-sponsored efforts to intimidate the political opposition and use violence against it. Mr. Mugabe has vowed in recent days to go to war if he loses after 28 years in power.

Mugabe's Mobs Target Families - Jan Raath, Times of London

The families of Zimbabwe's opposition leaders are being targeted for brutal execution in the latest twist to the brutal electoral violence gripping the country. With Robert Mugabe seeking to stifle the challenge to his power before a presidential run-off vote on June 27 the most recent victim of the his supporters was the wife of the unofficial mayor of Harare. Abigail Chitoro was so badly beaten by the mob that dragged her and her four-year-old son from their home that even her brother-in-law struggled to identify the body.

UN Chief Questions Zimbabwe Vote - BBC News

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said the violence in Zimbabwe could undermine the outcome of the presidential run-off election. "Violence, intimidation and the arrest of opposition leaders are not conducive to credible elections," he told the UN General Assembly in New York. President Robert Mugabe faces a strong challenge from opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in the 27 June vote.

Impending Food Crisis in Zimbabwe - Colum Lynch, Washington Post

A UN food survey of Zimbabwe concluded that poor weather, skyrocketing inflation and a shortage of seeds and fertilizers are conspiring to fuel one of the worst food crises in that country in more than 15 years. The UN study, conducted in April and May by the World Food Program and the Rome-based Food and Agricultural Organization, estimated that about 5 million people in Zimbabwe -- nearly half the population -- will need food assistance by early 2009. The report said Zimbabwe will have to allow international humanitarian groups to scale up their operations to meet an estimated shortfall of 395,000 tons of food, and called on the government to lift restrictions on private entrepreneurs who sell seed and fertilizers to local farmers.

Mugabe Vows to Hold Power - Robert Bate, Wall Street Journal opinion

Robert Mugabe, the increasingly belligerent and unstable 84-year-old Zimbabwean president, has a warning for those who might vote for Morgan Tsvangirai in next week's presidential runoff: "We fought for this country, and a lot of blood was shed," he told the state-controlled Herald newspaper here. "We are not going to give up our country because of a mere X. How can a ballpoint [pen] fight with a gun?" Still, Zimbabwe's dictator is using every means at his disposal to assure that all the Xs go by his name. The surge of violence and voter intimidation in urban and rural areas is clearly being orchestrated by Mugabe's army. Torture camps, where people are "educated" on how to vote, are widely reported.

Rebels, Soldiers Peace Talks Stalled - Whitney Stewart, Washington Times

Talks between the Ugandan government and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) further stalled this month in the southern Sudanese city of Juba amid reports of new atrocities being committed by the LRA in Sudan and Congo. But humanitarian aid workers remain cautiously optimistic that a peace agreement will be reached and that the people of northern Uganda will continue to rebuild after two decades of civil war.

Forces Deployed to Sudan's Oil-rich Abyei Region - Associated Press

Sudan's army and former southern rebels began deploying their forces Wednesday under a joint command in the oil-rich Abyei region of Sudan following last month's agreement to contain recent fighting. Atem Garang, a senior southern official and deputy national parliament speaker, said only the joint forces and UN peacekeepers will be in Abyei, which lies just north of the disputed boundary line with southern Sudan. The dispute over the region threatened to derail a three-year-old peace agreement in Sudan that ended two decades of civil war between the north and south.

Darfur Rebels on Trial for Attack Near Khartoum - Associated Press

Darfur rebel suspects appeared in court Wednesday over their alleged roles in an attack near the capital last month that left 200 dead and shocked the government. Prosecutors accused the defendants of conspiring against the constitution, waging war against the state and terrorizing civilians. Lawyers said that they could face the death penalty if convicted. The suspects were arrested after the May 10 attack near Khartoum by the rebel Justice and Equality Movement. It was the closest Darfur rebels have ever come to Sudan's seat of government, hundreds of miles from their bases in the far west of the country.

Shell Shuts Down Nigerian Oil Field - Associated Press

Royal Dutch Shell says it has shut down production at a Nigerian oil field that produces about 200,000 barrels per day after a militant attack. A Nigerian militant leader says his group launched a rare attack against one of the company's offshore oil installations, more than 65 miles from land. The fighters said they weren't able to enter a computer control room that they had hoped to destroy to cripple production.

Somalia Fighting Kills 17 Despite Peace Pact - Reuters

Fighting between Islamist-led insurgents and allied Somali-Ethiopian troops has killed at least 17 people, residents said on Wednesday, underlining the lack of impact of a U.N.-brokered peace agreement. One attack on a troop patrol on Tuesday night prompted return fire towards Mogadishu's SOS hospital, killing three people outside, witnesses said. Stray bullets from crossfire killed another three in a separate incident about the same time. Mogadishu resident Fatuma Hussein said a mortar landed on her neighbor's house, also on Tuesday night, killing a woman and two children.

Somalis Flee Terror, Pour Into Kenya - Elizabeth Kennedy, Associated Press

They are among some 20,000 Somalis who decided to flee their homeland this year, heading to the Dadaab refugee camp in eastern Kenya where they recalled a life of terror in Mogadishu. For the refugees, this dusty, sweltering expanse is still a better home than their wretched capital. Just 50 miles from the Somali border, many see the camp as a last resort.

Rice Delivers Stark Assessment of Mugabe - Colum Lynch, Washington Post

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told foreign diplomats here Thursday that Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's violent crackdown on opposition leaders had dashed hopes that the June 27 presidential runoff election would "be allowed to proceed in a free and fair manner." Rice's assessment came on a day that the opposition said the bodies of four party activists were found near Harare, Zimbabwe's capital. Witnesses told the Associated Press that the victims were taken away in trucks on Wednesday by militias chanting ruling party slogans.

Fear Grows Over Zimbabwe Elections - Dugger and Cowell, New York Times

As more opposition supporters in Zimbabwe were reported killed, a group of southern African government ministers issued unusually blunt public criticism of President Robert Mugabe on Thursday, saying there was “every sign” that next week’s presidential run-off election “will never be free nor fair.” The criticism seemed to reflect growing apprehension and impatience among Zimbabwe’s neighbors, a day after President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, the regional mediator, launched his latest effort to ease growing tensions before the June 27 ballot.

War Crimes Warning to Mugabe - Bone, Elliott and Clayton, Times of London

With just a week to go before Zimbabwe’s run-off elections – and with the body count growing – President Mugabe has been warned that he could be hauled before the International Criminal Court in The Hague over the atrocities inflicted on his opponents. A key Western diplomat, speaking yesterday on condition of anonymity, said: “He needs to know he is moments away from an ICC indictment.” Twelve bodies of activists, most of them showing signs of torture, were found across Zimbabwe yesterday.

S. Africa Won't Condemn Mugabe - MacFarquhar and Dugger, New York Times

South Africa snubbed an American effort to present a unified front condemning the Zimbabwe government for fomenting pre-election violence, sending a low-level representative to a discussion on the issue Thursday led by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her counterpart from Burkina Faso. Ms. Rice had called for the meeting with African nations and Security Council members on the sidelines of a ministerial session that unanimously passed an American-sponsored resolution to declare rape and sexual violence a weapon of war.

Tsvangirai 'Mulls Quitting Poll' - BBC News

Zimbabwe's opposition MDC party is considering withdrawing from the 27 June presidential run-off vote, a party source has told the BBC. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai is said to be under pressure to pull out in view of reports of escalating violence against his supporters. At a summit in Brussels, the EU is threatening to impose fresh sanctions against Zimbabwe's authorities.

Mugabe the Obscene - Austin Bay, Washington Times opinion

"Frankly obscene," said Australia's Foreign Minister Stephen Smith, referring to Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe's appearance at a United Nations food conference earlier this month. Yes, a dictator who uses starvation to scatter and kill his own people making an appearance at an international conference devoted to raising food and feeding the hungry is an obscenity - though I add, without cynicism, that the situation isn't all that unusual. Petty tyrants, terrorist enablers and tribal killers cluster about the wine and cheese smorgasbords of international community fetes and summits.

Wide-Open Battle For Power in Darfur - Stephanie McCrummen, Washington Post

Five years after the Darfur conflict began, the nature of violence across this vast desert region has changed dramatically, from a mostly one-sided government campaign against civilians to a complex free-for-all that is jeopardizing an effective relief mission to more than 2.5 million displaced and vulnerable people. While the government and militia attacks on straw-hut villages that defined the earlier years of the conflict continue, Darfur is now home to semi-organized crime and warlordism, with marijuana-smoking rebels, disaffected government militias and anyone else with an AK-47 taking part, according to UN officials.

Sudan Minister Asks for French Help in Darfur - Associated Press

Sudan's foreign minister says his country has asked France to try to help resolve the Darfur conflict. Deng Alor says that during talks with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, he asked France to try to bring together the parties in the conflict as well as some countries in the region. He says Sudan has confidence in France because of its "central position" in Africa and the world.

South Sudan Begins Mass Disarmament Campaign - Reuters

South Sudanese authorities have begun to collect thousands of guns amassed by civilians during decades of war to try to end tribal conflicts which claim dozens of lives each year, officials said. Since a 2005 north-south peace deal ended Africa's longest civil war, efforts by the semi-autonomous southern government to disarm civilians have claimed an estimated 1,500 lives because they took weapons from some tribes leaving them vulnerable to neighboring communities who were still armed.

Nigerian Rebels Strike Offshore Rig - Lydia Polgreen, New York Times

Royal Dutch Shell was forced to shut down production of its Bonga field off the coast of Nigeria’s volatile Niger Delta region after an attack by militants on an enormous rig far offshore, the company said Thursday. Militants from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, a shadowy rebel group that has carried out an escalating series of attacks oil installations and the soldiers who guard them in the creeks of the Niger Delta over the last few years, claimed responsibility for the strike. But in latest attack was on a rig lies 75 miles offshore, which requires much better equipment and military-style coordination.

Burundi Arrests 'Rebel Recruits' - BBC News

Burundi's army says it has arrested more than 100 young people who were being recruited to join the country's last active rebel group. The recruitment by the National Liberation Forces (FNL) violated a recent ceasefire that the group signed with the government, the army said. But the FNL said those arrested were fighters on their way to assembly areas where they would be disarmed.

Family Killed in Somali Clashes - BBC News

A mother and two children are among 25 people and 13 civilians, killed in fierce fighting in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, witnesses say. They were killed when a mortar shell landed on their house, neighbours said. The fighting began when 100 insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades attacked three government and Ethiopian bases south of the city.

Hunger Pains - Carolyn Woo, Baltimore Sun opinion

Before leaving the University of Notre Dame for a two-week trip to Ethiopia and Kenya, I was concerned about the rising food prices worldwide. Having grown up in Hong Kong eating rice each day, I was particularly worried by the threefold increase in the price of rice - the staple food for about 3 billion people worldwide. My concern took on a new intensity when I arrived in East Africa and began touring projects supported by Baltimore-based Catholic Relief Services. In Africa, the rise in global food prices doesn't mean forgoing a night out on the town or passing up a pair of shoes on sale. It means middle-class families stop buying milk for their children and morning coffee, poor families start eating a bowl of porridge just once or twice a day, and the poorest of the poor regularly go hungry and may even face starvation.

Zimbabweans Set to Vote With Their Feet - Clayton and Raath, Times of London

Zimbabwe’s neighbours are bracing themselves for an influx of millions of refugees after the run-off presidential poll next week, which President Mugabe is determined to win even at the cost of regional isolation. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has put contingency plans in place in the expectation that hordes of Zimbabweans will cross the borders to Mozambique, Botswana, Zambia and South Africa, where an estimated three million of their countrymen are already taking refuge.

Opposition Strategist Denied Bail in Zimbabwe - Barry Bearak, New York Times

With Zimbabwe’s presidential runoff just a week away, a magistrate in Harare refused Friday to grant bail to Tendai Biti, the opposition’s secretary general and chief strategist, who has been charged with treason. Though the opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, said it would appeal, Mr. Biti has been ordered to remain in jail until his next scheduled court date on July 7 - more than a week after the election. The magistrate’s decision was yet another setback for the opposition, whose candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, finished ahead of President Robert Mugabe in a first round of balloting in March, but not by a majority of votes.

Mugabe Says 'Only God' Can Remove Him - Daily Telegraph of London

Robert Mugabe vowed to remain president of Zimbabwe whatever the outcome of next week's election, saying "only God" could remove him from office. Mr Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since 1980, said the opposition Movement for Democratic Change would not be allowed to assume power if it won the presidential run-off poll on June 27. "The MDC will never be allowed to rule this country - never ever," Mr Mugabe, 84, told a meeting of business people in Bulawayo. "Only God who appointed me will remove me, not the MDC, not the British."

Opposition Asks Voters to End Mugabe Rule - Angus Shaw, Associated Press

Zimbabwe's opposition leader called on his supporters Friday to challenge President Robert Mugabe's rule in next week's runoff election despite a "wave of brutality" he says the government has unleashed. Even as Morgan Tsvangirai urged Zimbabweans to have the courage to vote in the face of a violent crackdown, a judge ordered the No. 2 opposition leader held on treason and other charges until after the election.

Zimbabwe: Long Walk to Freedom II - Times of London editorial

Mr Mandela is coming to London not only to celebrate a long life but also to raise awareness of Aids in Africa and funds to fight the epidemic. Aids is an issue on which he took an early and outspoken lead in speaking out. On another issue, however, he has been woefully silent. Since his retirement, and indeed even before that, he has said little about the tragedy unfolding in Zimbabwe. There may be something of the old freedom fighter's anti-colonial instincts at work here; but Mr Mandela is in a unique position to fight once again for the cause - freedom and justice in Africa - that earned him the admiration of the world. Mr Mugable and his henchmen could not ignore a rebuke from Mr Mandela, a man who endured more than they did in the name of black empowerment. He could also inspire the people of Zimbabwe with real courage and hope. And in the process, he would help to restore the authority of South Africa, a nation that for so long clamoured for support in its time of need and which has in recent months offered limp diplomacy as its neighbour endured starvation, intimidation and murder.

Getting Past Mugabe - Bellamy and Morrison, Washington Post opinion

The crisis in Zimbabwe is now at a critical stage. Government-instigated brutality is out of control. Regional and worldwide alarm over the brazen and increasingly unpredictable rule of Robert Mugabe is at an all-time high. By any reckoning, free and fair presidential elections in Zimbabwe next week are impossible. Mugabe and his security chiefs have warned they will accept no outcome other than his "re-election." Adding a few more election observers or achieving a pause in pre-election violence will change little. Faced with Mugabe's ruthlessness, Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai may well decide in coming days to pull out of the race altogether.

Assassins Aim at the Grass Roots - Bearak and Dugger, New York Times

Zimbabwe will have a presidential runoff election on Friday, an epochal choice between Robert Mugabe, the 84-year-old liberation hero who has run the nation for nearly three decades, and the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. But in the morbid and sinister weeks recently passed, the balloting has been preceded by a calculated campaign of bloodletting meant to intimidate the opposition and strip it of some of its most valuable foot soldiers. Even as hundreds of election observers from neighboring countries were deployed across Zimbabwe in the past few days, the gruesome killings and beatings of opposition figures have continued.

New Wave of Attacks on Zimbabwe Opposition - Los Angeles Times

As Friday's runoff nears, the regime of longtime President Robert Mugabe has unleashed a new wave of attacks against the opposition in dense urban areas near Harare, the capital, according to the MDC. More of the opposition party's activists were killed last week than in any other since the first round of voting. Zimbabwe Doctors for Human Rights says there have been at least 85 deaths and 3,000 people injured in political attacks since the March 29 presidential vote, in which MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai won more ballots than Mugabe. The independent group has described the level of election violence as unprecedented. As many as 200 activists are missing, according to Zimbabwean human rights activists. For many here, life has become a terrifying round of beatings, harassment, political "reeducation" meetings and funerals. Many opposition activists now believe that without peacekeepers, the MDC has no choice but to withdraw from the upcoming vote. The MDC's government council is due to meet today to vote on whether to press on.

The Madness of Robert Mugabe - Times of London editorial

Not much is predictable in politics, but it is more than a fair bet that Robert Mugabe will be “re-elected” as president of Zimbabwe this week. If you use the state to murder and terrorise your opponents in sufficient numbers and tear up ballot papers, you tend to get a majority. Mr Mugabe is not shy about this. “We will never allow an event like an election to reverse our independence, our sovereignty,” he pronounced last week. “Only God who appointed me will remove me – not the MDC, not the British.” The madness of Mr Mugabe is beyond parody. The opposition MDC should pull out of this charade of an election, which can never be free or fair. Writing in The Sunday Times today, Peter Hain, the former anti-apartheid campaigner and Africa minister, says that it is time for other African leaders, and in particular “South African apologists”, to call time. The Mugabe of today bears no relation to the liberation leader they once admired. There is nothing colonial or racist about wishing the end of a dictator who has destroyed his country and inflicted misery on his people.

The Way to Make Mugabe Go - Peter Hain, Times of London opinion

Zimbabwe was once the jewel in Africa’s crown, a beautiful and hospitable land to visit, with the highest standards of education in Africa, good infrastructure and a strong and growing economy. Yet, these past 10 years, Mugabe has all but destroyed it, turning a booming agricultural sector – a breadbasket for not just his people but surrounding nations too – into a wasteland, with starvation widespread. Deploying the convenient rhetoric of anticolonialism to force white farmers off their land, he deprived in each case an average of 100 black workers of their jobs and homes, handing over farms to incompetent cronies. With corruption institutionalised and the economy in freefall, inflation has surged and the currency has collapsed.

Nigerian Youths Blow Up Oil Pipeline, Output Cut - Reuters

Armed youths blew up a Nigerian crude oil pipeline operated by U.S. major Chevron, a militant group said on Saturday, cutting more output from the world's eighth largest oil exporter. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said it was contacted by youths claiming responsibility for Thursday's attack on Chevron's Abiteye-Olero crude pipeline and commended their action. The military said about 120,000 barrels per day of crude oil production were shut by the sabotage.

Reinventing Rwanda - Stephen Kinzer, Los Angeles Times opinion

In the dozens of poor countries I've covered as a foreign correspondent, development specialists -- people who run projects aimed at pulling nations out of poverty -- have generally worked hand in hand with human rights advocates. That makes sense because these two groups are natural allies. Both instinctively support governments that promote freedom and prosperity and oppose corrupt and repressive ones. Recently, though, I've been spending time in a country where these two groups are on opposite sides: Rwanda. No other country's government is so highly praised by development specialists but also so roundly condemned by human rights advocates. In fact, Rwanda's spectacular rebirth since the shocking genocide of 1994 has reignited an old debate about the very nature of human rights -- and about whether the West's obsession with this concept can undermine innovative solutions to problems that hold entire nations in misery.

Tsvangirai Pulls Out of Runoff - Bearak and Dugger, New York Times

The leader of Zimbabwe’s opposition party withdrew Sunday from a presidential runoff, just five days before it was to be held, saying he could neither participate “in this violent, illegitimate sham of an election process,” nor ask his voters to risk their lives in the face of threats from forces backing President Robert Mugabe. The opposition candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, the standard-bearer of the Movement for Democratic Change, said at a news conference in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, that his party was facing a war rather than an election, “and we will not be part of that war.”

Mugabe Gets a Free Run - Philp and Raath, Times of London

Bruised, bloodied and bowed, the Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew from Friday’s presidential run-off election and called on the world to “intervene and stop the genocide” in Zimbabwe. His decision, announced hours after thousands of ruling party militiamen stormed the venue where Mr Tsvangirai had planned to hold his main rally, grants unopposed victory to Robert Mugabe, who has sworn to rule Zimbabwe until he dies.

Zimbabwe Opposition Candidate Drops Out - Washington Post

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew Sunday from Zimbabwe's presidential runoff election under the might of a vicious campaign of political violence by President Robert Mugabe, saying that "we cannot stand there and watch people being killed for the sake of power." Tsvangirai's decision ends an electrifying challenge to Mugabe, who over 28 years has led his once-bountiful country into economic ruin, then unleashed an onslaught of state-sponsored torture, beatings and killings after he lost the first round of voting in March. Election officials deemed a runoff necessary because neither candidate got a majority of votes, and they set the date for Friday.

Zimbabwe's Mugabe to go Through with Runoff - Associated Press

It will be an election with no opponent and little hope of endorsement from even traditional allies. But President Robert Mugabe appears determined to go through with a runoff later this week, and to extend his nearly three decades in power for as long as he can. On Sunday, opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out of the two-man race. Tsvangirai said his party had been the target of so much brutality meted out by Mugabe's police, soldiers and militant loyalists that the run-off was a sham. But Mugabe's information minister said the vote would go ahead Friday.

Zimbabwe Elections Take High Human Toll - Associated Press

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said Sunday that his decision to withdraw from this week's presidential runoff was motivated by the "orgy of violence" including rape, torture, murder and abductions by ruling party militants. The violence and intimidation that have caused terror in rural areas erupted in full view of international election observers in the capital Sunday, when thousands of President Robert Mugabe's feared youth brigades went on a rampage to prevent the opposition from holding a rally.

Collapse No Longer Question - Richard Beeston, Times of London opinion

For a man who has battled for nearly a decade to become President of Zimbabwe, Morgan Tsvangirai's decision to pull out of the race against Robert Mugabe only days before polling must have been the toughest of his career. The former union boss has suffered arrest and beatings at the hands of his rival. His supporters have been murdered, arrested and tortured. Many wanted him to continue the fight until election day on Friday, but he reached the conclusion that staying in the presidential race would only lead to more bloodshed. As Mr Mugabe has made clear in both words and deeds over the past week, the outcome of the vote was never in doubt. A clear majority of Zimbabweans may want him out, but there is not much that the civilian population can do against the combined might of the Zanu (PF) militia and the security forces, not to mention the electoral authorities, which have still not given a full account of the last vote. In Mr Mugabe's own words, “only God” could remove him from office.

A Test for African Leaders - Barry Cohen, The Australian opinion

There were only two possible results at Friday's scheduled election in Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe and his thugs would rig it and Mugabe would win or Morgan Tsvangirai would win and there would be war. Last night Tsvangirai quit, saying the vote could not be free and fair. The tyrant responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of his countrymen and the plight of millions of refugees will continue to torture, starve and murder anyone that opposes his will. God alone, he tells us, will end his reign. And the world's reaction? There'll be wringing of hands and pious platitudes, but not much else. The anti-war activists will be too busy screaming abuse at George Bush while ignoring what's happening in Darfur, Tibet, North Korea and Zimbabwe. There'll be no multimillion marches demanding Mugabe must go.

UN Warns of Bad Year in Darfur - Associated Press

UN agencies operating in Darfur warned Sunday that rising insecurity, a bad cereal harvest and the approaching rainy season will make for a particularly bad year for the population of the region. The vast arid western region of Sudan is the site of the largest humanitarian operation in the world but increased banditry and the coming rainy season, which runs from June through October, will make it even harder for agencies to get food to those that need it. Mike McDonagh, chief of the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said the poor harvest, the inability to transport food, continued displacement and overstretched water resources are combining to create the "perfect storm" in Darfur.

Algeria: Tug of War for Young Minds - Michael SLackman, New York TImes

At a time of religious revival across the Muslim world, Algeria’s youth are in play. The focus of this contest is the schools, where for decades Islamists controlled what children learned, and how they learned, officials and education experts here said. Now the government is urgently trying to re-engineer Algerian identity, changing the curriculum to wrest momentum from the Islamists, provide its youth with more employable skills, and combat the terrorism it fears schools have inadvertently encouraged. It appears to be the most ambitious attempt in the region to change a school system to make its students less vulnerable to religious extremism.

Nigerian Oil Militants Vow Ceasefire in Delta - Reuters

Militants in Nigeria's southern Niger Delta, whose campaign of sabotage has sharply cut the country's oil output, announced a unilateral ceasefire on Sunday after an appeal by community elders. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) declared the ceasefire just days after one of its most daring attacks so far, which forced Royal Dutch Shell to halt output from Bonga, its main Nigerian offshore oilfield.

Al-Qaida Urges Somalis to Fight UN - Associated Press

An al-Qaida spokesman has urged Islamist militants in Somalia to fight a United Nations peacekeeping force slated to be deployed there. In a 19-minute video posted on a militant Web site Sunday, Abu Yahya Al-Libi also urged Muslim extremists to set up an Islamic government in Somalia.

UNSC to Zimbabwe: Halt Violence - MacFarquhar and Dugger, New York TImes

With Zimbabwe’s opposition under siege and its leader taking refuge at the Dutch Embassy, the Security Council on Monday issued its first sweeping condemnation of the violence gripping the nation, s