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| Africa Subsaharan |
| A new beginning in Zimbabwe? |
| 2009-08-11 |
| [Mail and Globe] Schools and hospitals returning to life. Food in the supermarkets and queues at the tills. Investors flying in and refugees coming home. Independent newspapers due for launch and international media broadcasting openly. Book fairs, poetry slams and jazz festivals drawing crowds. A president and prime minister laughing together as they call for national healing. This is Zimbabwe in August 2009. Politically motivated beatings turning families against themselves. Villagers bartering chickens in the absence of a new currency. MPs, lawyers, journalists and students under arrest. Corruption rampant and another cholera outbreak predicted. A president rebuilding his tools of oppression and a prime minister said to be in danger of assassination. This, too, is Zimbabwe in August 2009. Six months after Robert Mugabe and his arch-rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, publicly swallowed their enmity and tried to speak with one voice, southern Africa's problem country is still a contradictory and confusing place. "We are at a fork [in the road]," said Tendai Biti, Tsvangirai's most powerful lieutenant. "Going left could be going towards a new Zimbabwe. Going right could be doing a cul-de-sac and going back to square zero." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #10 As said before, MR. SPOCK > OLD VULCAN SAYING = "ONLY OBAMA [Nixon] COULD GO TO AFRICA [China]"! |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2009-08-11 18:56 |
| #9 Actually, sounds like NEP to me. Good for a purge in seven-eight years? |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2009-08-11 18:19 |
| #8 It would still have all the charm of a crack-whore after a face-lift, even if it could change, Besoeker, :( |
| Posted by: rhodesiafever 2009-08-11 16:43 |
| #7 Visit The Great Zimbabwe Ruins Guided tours run daily through the ruins, a museum that holds the archaeological artifacts that have been recovered from the ruins |
| Posted by: Willy 2009-08-11 16:28 |
| #6 And in other news: LIFE Magazine, February 12, 1965. Russian and Chinese weapons airlifted to the Congo rebels. RED ARSENALS ARM THE SIMBAS. Some things, they just don't change eh RF? |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-08-11 15:16 |
| #5 Bob hasn't been tooling up for nothing, I recall them stating they would be better off with half the population gone. My opinion of which half would differ, I am sure. Anyway, summary of a road-trip SA-Zim last week by my intrepid reporter: "Airlines all full, so took a road trip. Beitbridge still a nightmare, loads of trucks, road edges worn, oncoming traffic a nightmare, ten roadblocks between there and Hre, polite, only asking for vehicle dox. Overnight in Bubi, Lion and Elephant (motel in the middle of nowhere), full. Fuel not a problem. Harare buzzing with people, whites having a change of heart. Trying to miss goats and houts on the Masvingo road back." Spring time for Hitler, indeed. |
| Posted by: rhodesiafever 2009-08-11 13:52 |
| #4 My money's on the guys with the guns, every time. |
| Posted by: Plastic Snoopy 2009-08-11 11:13 |
| #3 Why do I hear "Springtime for Hitler and Germany" running through my mind while I read this article. Is it my own latent racism? |
| Posted by: whitecollar redneck 2009-08-11 11:07 |
| #2 That would be Avian Swine 'flu, g(r)omguru, round about the time of the next Cholera outbreak when the rain starts around November. |
| Posted by: rhodesiafever 2009-08-11 10:16 |
| #1 Flying pigs sighted? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-08-11 05:09 |