Raids Target Zimbabwe Opposition Party

[stranger81]

Source: CNN

HARARE, Zimbabwe (CNN) -- Zimbabwean government forces Thursday began cracking down on the main opposition party, raising fears of a political crisis, according to witnesses and an opposition spokesman.

The forces raided at least two hotels in the capital, including one that houses foreign journalists, a witness told CNN.

Four journalists unaccredited by the Zimbabwean government were taken away, he said.

New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller confirmed that Barry Bearak, a Pulitzer Prize-winning correspondent based in Johannesburg, South Africa, was taken into custody.


Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/04/03/zimbabwe.election/index.html

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Mugabe's not going to give up without a fight.

[David__77]

1. I wonder if a coup is in the works.

It's interesting, because Mugabe apparently was ready to call it quits, but it seems that the security forces and army may have other plans. The military command sees MDC as foreign agents.

[micraphone]

2. Bet on it

The man is a maniac (bit like someone else we know) and couldn't do it without enablers behind the scenes. I read somewhere he just bribes them.

Dictators do not want democracy!

[David__77]

3. I don't think it's so simple.

I must say that Mugabe isn't good, but he's better than many in power around the globe. He did a lot of good by helping free his country from white minority fascist rule, and had good intentions with land reform. I blame Britain for a lot of Zimbabwe's problems.

Mugabe has been democratically elected in the past. I don't know the results of these elections, but the fact that ZANU-PF still has a large base of support among Zimbabweans shouldn't be dismissed. The country needs reconciliation and that includes them too.

[drobert_bfm]

4. Because one side is bad, doesn't mean the other is good

The Racist regime of Rhodesia was horrific, and it was right that it fell. But that does not make Mugabe any less of a monster. He replaced a white fascist state with a black fascist state, and none of the elections held since have been anywhere near free.

Let's not fall into the fallacy that in every fight, there must be one good guy and one bad. There can also be two bad guys, or even two good ones...

[David__77]

6. I agree, and both Mugabe and the opposition are bad.

One is corrupt and has betrayed its roots in the liberation struggle, and the other has sold itself to foreign interests promoting neo-liberal economics and Anglo-American domination. There are good elements in both factions, but the leading forces of both are no good.

I'm saying these things because I think that the view here is very one-sidedly anti-Mugabe and pro-MDC.

Best wishes to the people of Zimbabwe in determining their own destiny, free from foreign interference.

[Zynx]

14. Mugabe and his personal cohorts should be exiled.

They should never be near that government again. Frankly, I would take neo-liberalism over what has happened to that country if I had to anyday. There is not freedom, peace, or prosperity as it exists now.

[drobert_bfm]

17. Problem with your argument is

That it's Mugabe who has the guns, and he's the one currently using them to try to "fix" the elections. He had also warned the MDC not to claim victory, stating that it would be "equivalent to a coup". I'm sorry, but that makes Mugabe the bad one here, even if MDC is far from blameless. But in this specific case, Mugabe's at fault.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

7. what the hell did the British do exactly?

other than cut off funding to a land reform program that was dying before the courts and of which most of the funding was being embezzled to begin with.

As for the white facists such as the Davey faily, the Rautenbach family and the Bredenkamps (who were war criminals) they and some more recent white arrivals such as international criminal Nicholas Hoogstraten who recently over took the Davey family as the largest landowner are doing just fine in Mugabe's Zimbabwe and are much closer to Mugabe and company than they ever were to Smith and the UDI.

[David__77]

8. Well...

There was that... and the colonial occupation that killed so many Zimbabweans. The legacy of that is still with that country.

Mugabe said this: "We do not interfere with their own systems in America and Britain. Mr. Bush and Mr. Brown have no role to play in our national affairs. They are outsiders and mischievous outsiders and should therefore keep out! The colonial sun set a long time ago; in 1980 in the case of Zimbabwe, and hence Zimbabwe will never be a colony again. Never!..." Again, he's a religious zealot, a reactionary, corrupt, self-aggrandizing, on and on... BUT, I want new-style "human rights" colonialism to go the same way as the old-style colonialism.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

9. "human rights colonialism"

So as long as the worst abuses of the UDI and apartheid eras are being emulated by other blacks it isn't our concern?

So when Jacob Zuma begins his rampage in South Africa (provided he isn't in prison or to ill) and challenges Bush for the title of worst world leader ever, you will have nothing to say?

[David__77]

10. What's wrong with Zuma?

I think he's miles ahead of Mbeki on policy questions. But, clearly, we are in different camps on these questions.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

16. you have to be kidding me

you mean other than the fact he is a rapist? the fact the woman he raped is HIV positive and that he believes the spread of AIDS is caused by poor hygine and can be prevented with a hot shower?

Okay, assuming for the moment that raping a woman in a short skirt is infact his duty as a "zulu warrior", the next leader of a nation in the thick of the AIDS crisis encouraging practically suicidal sexual behavior. Assuming that his victim is not the only HIV positive woman he has had sex with it would seem likely that Zuma himself has HIV.

There is then the matter of his second trial comming this summer for racketeering, money laundering and corruption.

He is a hardcore bigot himself and has in the past praised violence against South Asians, Xhosas and homosexuals.

To say nothing of what he no doubt has in plan for the whites,

[David__77]

19. He was found not guilty.

"Innocent until proven guilty." The court acquitted him. He made a mistake with the unsafe sex - much more like Bill Clinton than like a "rapist."

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

20. he used the short skirt defense

Zuma's defense was that a woman who was sexually aroused (as demonstrated by her skirt) is in a constant state of consent!

The white judge was more concerned about looking racist than anything else and allowed the victim to be made out as a whore.

[Zynx]

13. If only his motivations were pure. It's obvious his policies have failed his country

horribly and he has hardly be representative of the wishes of all the people. He plays divide and conquer and labels all who oppose him as colonialists as his country rots and dies.

[Critters2]

11. ZANU-PF's support is completely gone...even in the rural areas

where he had strong support in the past. Hyperinflation caused by bad policies will do that.

This man is as bad as any dictator on the planet.

[Zynx]

12. I have a hard time finding worse. Kim Jong-Il is up there in terms of bad leaders, but

Mugabe has been nothing short of a disaster. Close to one in five Zimbabweans have fled the country while he has been in power. He is corrupt, violent, and incompetent.

[David__77]

5. Looks like there will be a run-off.

The rumor is that no one received more than 50% of the vote, but that the opposition came out ahead by several points, with a ZANU-PF rebel running third. Opposition-aligned groups are calling for Mugabe to forgo the runoff, but there's no legal basis to bypass that election.

[Zynx]

15. If the will of the people of Zimbabwe is to keep Mugabe, which I doubt,

they deserve all the ruin and disaster they will get.

[President Kerry]

18. the sad thing is..

we'll never know the will of the people, because he'll reelect himself. I'm not sure why he's even bothering to do this charade. He's stolen elections before, he's bragged about the brutal assault on the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, and of course he's completely destroyed a once prosperous country. He needs to go straight to the Hague.

[Matilda]

21. Ain't that the truth.

Pre-election, the ABC here showed footage of a large area of grass with a few trees outside Harare -
no houses, no buildings of any sort, not even a tent, but over 8,000 people were registered to vote
there. And that's just one place.

I would hazzard a guess that in fact the MDC has won with well over 50% of the vote, but there's
no way Mugabe would allow the ZEC to declare their victory - and if they value their lives, they
won't do it.

[ellisonz]

22. Tyrant.

[damntexdem]

23. When you can't win, or even fix, an election, just "crack down."

I shudder to think about who in power in America is watching this for pointers.

[abq e streeter]

24. Barry Bearak was one of my best friends in college

and I've sent an email to his wife expressing my hopes that he'll be freed soon. I've been pretty nervous since hearing about this, this a.m. and if anyone hears some good news about this situation, I hope you'll post it or even PM me.