Vevey, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Food multinational Nestlé says it has closed its milk production plant in Zimbabwe after the government pressured it to take milk from a non-contracted supplier 19 December during a surprise visit from government officials. Two days later, Monday, two of the plant’s managers were called into the Harare police station for questioning, then released. President Robert Mugabe and his unity government partner Morgan Tsvangirai have both reacted with dismay to the closing, and observers in southern Africa are calling it a setback for the unity government, which has been working to convince foreign investors and aid groups to return to the country.
The UN General Assembly has approved 114 to 18, with 44 abstentions, the controversial Goldstone report into atrocities in the Gaza war in the winter of 2008/09, and recommended that the Security Council act if both Israel and the Palestinians had not conducted their own investigations within three months. CNN, New York Times
Honduras‘ former President Manuel Zelaya says the agreement reached one week ago that would have led to a power-sharing government and his reinstatement as president is dead, after the two sides failed to agree on the government by Thursday, 5 November. The Supreme Court still needs to make a recommendation to the Honduran Congress on whether Zelaya may complete his term. Al-Jazeera, BBC
Morgan Tsvangirai says he will end his three-week boycott of the Zimbabwean unity government “effective immediately”, and has given Robert Mugabe 30 days in which to implement his side of the bargain that led to the deal. Tsvangirai walked out after Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party began to harrass Tsvangirai’s MDC party members. Al-Jazeera, BBC, The Guardian
A UN official in charge of investigating charges of torture who was invited to Zimbabwe is on his way to Johannesburg, South Africa Thursday 29 October after being denied entry to the country at the airport in Harare. Manfred Nowak, the UN’s special rapporteur on torture, told reporters that his invitation had been rescinded by the Zimbabwean ministry of foreign affairs when he arrived in Harare late Wednesday evening 28 October. Immigration officials would not let him into the country despite an invitation from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
The government of Zimbabwe has been split since Tsvangirai walked out two weeks ago, complaining of a concerted campaign of violence by President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF supporters against Tsvangirai’s MDC party members. A team from the regional grouping Southern Africa Development Community was expected in Harare to mediate the political crisis Thursday. AP,BBC
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai met for four hours, the first meeting since Tsvangirai pulled out of the coalition government in mid-October, and his spokesperson says the talks ended with no agreement. “We are worlds apart on fundamental issues,” the BBC quotes him as saying. The pullout and failed meeting effectively leave Zimbabwe without an elected government: the coalition was formed in February 2009 under pressure from outside the country after election results showing Mugabe as winner were contested.
Links to other sites: AllAfrica, AP/Yahoo, BBC,
Southern African nations meeting in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo,8 September called for an end to Western sanctions on Zimbabwe. Sanctions have been in place since before a unity government was formed in 2008 with President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The call to lift sanctions is seen as a significant victory for Mugabe, who says that the country urgently needs $10 billion in development aid. Tsvangirai has called for the full implementation of the accords before sanctions are lifted.
Jacob Zuma, president of South Africa and a key member of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), said at the beginning of the conference that he hoped the Zimbabwe government’s divisions could be healed quickly in order for foreign aid to be resumed. At the end, he said that he now sees no reason why conditions should be imposed before lifting sanctions. BBC, Reuters, AllAfrica
Susan Tsvangirai, the wife of Zimbabwe’s prime minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, was dead at the scene of a crash that has put her husband in hospital in “stable” condition. The pair were traveling to a rally 60km from the capital, Harare, reports Al Jazeera, when they were hit by a “haulage truck” whose driver appears to have fallen asleep at the wheel. The couple were married for 31 years and have six children, says the wire service. The BBC notes that traffic accidents are common in Zimbabwe, where vehicles are often in poor shape and speeding and drink driving are common.
Morgan Tsvangirai says his party will become part of a unity government when he is sworn in as prime minister of Zimbabwe 10 February, after the Southern African Development Community (SADC) proposed a new timetable. Aid agencies have refused to provide the country with more aid unless a unity government is in place: more than 60,000 people are reported by the WHO to be infected with cholera, and 3,000 people are believed to have died from it. All Africa, BBC, Guardian
Morgan Tsvangirai called it “the darkest day” while Robert Mugabe said he hoped for a new round of talk, but South African mediators say that 12 hours of final talks have led to no agreement. BBC
