What you may have missed September 1-5

Mugabe conciliatory- President Robert Mugabe today pledged that his government will embrace every Zimbabwean including those against his party. His remarks followed threats he issued last Sunday against residents of Harare and Bulawayo for rejecting his ZANU-PF party in the just ended elections. “We will not deny you food if in need. We will not punish you. Every Zimbabwean is entitled to government support,” he said.

Editor suspended over Mbeki story

Zimbabwe’s NewsDay newspaper today said it had suspended its editor Constantine Chimakure over two stories which the publisher, Alpha Media Holdings, said “did not conform to set ethical standards”. The stories carried the headlines; “Mbeki speaks on Zim polls, ‘chaotic’ land reform”, and “Mugabe offers Tsvangirai VP post”. “We feel the stories fell short of the basic journalistic standards set in our ethics guidelines; How we put accuracy to the test, the AMH Code of Ethics and the AMH Pledge whose tenets are fundamental to our operations,” AMH editor-in-Chief Vincent Kahiya said.

ZANU-PF could rule for 100 years

Tanzanian Foreign Minister Bernard Membe today said the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front could rule for another 100 years if the opposition does not join the party in fighting for the removal of sanctions n Zimbabwe. “On the issue of sanctions I will speak from the bottom of my heart. The opposition, if they are in this conference room, they should begin working with ZANU-PF if they are entertaining any thoughts of taking power in 2018. If they do not, this party (ZANU- PF) will rule for another 100 years. I am giving them advice to take power. Sanctions will never work as a tool to win elections; they have never worked.”

Food needed

The United Nations World Food Programme today said 2.2 million people in Zimbabwe might need food assistance during the pre-harvest period early next year. “Many districts, particularly in the south, harvested very little and people are already trying to stretch out their dwindling food stocks,” Country Director Sory Ouane said. “WFP is working closely with the government and partners to respond to the looming food crisis and will start food and cash distributions to the most vulnerable in October.”

MDC dismisses SADC report

The Movement for Democratic Change today dismissed the election observing report of the Southern African Development Community released by Tanzanian Foreign Minister Bernard Membe claiming that it had not been universally endorsed by all countries in the 15-nation regional grouping. It said the report was inaccurate and failed to address fundamental issues that were critical in determining the freeness, fairness and credibility of the elections.

Belgium pushes EU to lift sanctions

Belgium, centre of the global diamond trade, today demanded that the European Union lift sanctions on the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation arguing that EU foreign ministers agreed in February to lift sanctions on ZMDC within a month of the poll unless EU governments unanimously agreed the vote was not “peaceful, transparent and credible”. The EU has expressed “serious concerns” over the alleged irregularities. However, Belgium argues that the EU has not refused to recognise the election and so the February agreement must be respected and sanctions on ZMDC lifted. “For us, there is an agreement,” Belgian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hendrik van de Velde said.

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