BLADE

Zim battle in cyberspace

THE factional fighting that has hit Zanu PF, Robert Mugabes' party in the run-up to its congress this week took a new turn when protagonists took their battle into cyberspace.

A series of text messages have since Tuesday been sent to hundreds of mobile subscribers, across the networks, purporting to give “updates” of the Zanu PF congress, which officially begins today.
The first text message arrived on Tuesday reading: “Welcome to the 5th Zanu PF Congress. SMS service brought to VIP delegates FREE as a Youth League trial information project.”
This was subsequently followed up by a string of other text messages one of which read: “The Mujuru faction demands at congress new, young and vibrant leadership for the party.”
President Robert Mugabe, who is also Zanu PF president and first secretary is 85-years-old. Analysts said this could be a direct call for Mugabe to step down at the congress.
A further message suggested that the “Joint Operations Command (JOC)” –– a grouping of security commanders –– was refusing to accept Mujuru as leader.
The text messages were discussed in the Zanu PF politburo meeting on Tuesday, according to Zanu PF sources.
The source of the messages remains unknown, but Zanu PF insiders pointed to the rival factions grappling to succeed Mugabe in the future.
Zanu PF has two main factions, one led by retired army general Solomon Mujuru and the other by Defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa.
It has emerged that the senders were using a web-based short message system platform via a Swedish mobile operator to send the messages.
An inactive Econet number was used to “mask” the real source of the messages.
Yesterday, Econet was quick to action, saying in a statement that it had contacted the Swedish operator, believed to be Tele2 Comviq, to demand an immediate end to the spam messages being sent to Zimbabwean subscribers.
 In a statement released yesterday, Econet said as policy the company did not allow the transmission of political messages over its network.

John Mokwetsi/ Harare

Tsvangirai rejoins Mugabe-government

President Robert Mugabe has been given one month to resolve the issues that resulted in a temporary breakdown in the unity government in Zimbabwe. In the meantime Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is returning to work.

 

Tsvangirai’s spokesperson James Maridadi said the MDC was hopeful that Mugabe would have addressed the outstanding issues within the 30 days.

“We are very hopeful,” said Maridadi adding that South African President Jacob Zuma would soon visit Zimbabwe to access progress towards fully compliance with GPA.

Pirate hunt a waste of money

The Norwegian frigate patrolling the Gulf of Aden is expensive and an inefficient way to combat piracy.

“It costs 200 million kroner (33 mill. dollars) to keep the frigate KNM Fridtjov Nansen in the Gulf of Aden for six months. That would have covered the wages of 100.000 policemen in Puntland for the same period,” says researcher Stig Jarle Hansen  at the Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research (NIBR) according to Norwegian daily, Vårt Land.

The Norwegian ship is part of a EU-operation to thwart pirate in the waters off Somalia. It has been on patrol since August.

“There are no simple solutions to the problem of piracy, but it cannot be solved without going in locally to where the pirates come from. The pirates are not the result of the absence of a state, but due to the lack of local institutions such as a police force, “ says Hansen, who has written a report for the Norwegian Foreign Ministry, “Piracy in the greater Gulf of Aden.”

js

Why Obama?

When the news of the Nobel Peace Prize to President Barack Obama was announced at a conference I was attending Friday the spontaneous reaction from people in the audience was a surprised gasp "What, why?"

Wishful thinking on the side of the Nobel Committee cannot be ruled out. Nor Norwegian arrogance in thinking the prize will be a support for Obama along his political path. That would be to overestimate the influence of the award and underestimate the forces influencing the world in which Obama operates.

Rewarding presidential rhetoric before his ideas have borne concrete results shows a Nobel committee too keen on basking in reflected presidential glory rather than recognizing peace or human rights efforts made by persons for whom a Nobel medal would constitute the difference between life and death.

This year’s award is a clear proof that the committee chair, Thorbjørn 

Jagland, should resign and save his political networking to his job as head of the Council of Europe.

The Nobel Committee needs to realize that the world no longer rotates around Washington's axis. A peace prize to a president busy running two wars and supplying the arms to a few more, is ridiculous. While fellow politicians and lapdog organizations applaud, ordinary people still ask - Why Obama? No matter how much one likes the guy.

Jan Speed

Progress Party vows cut in budget support

With the general election in Norway two weeks away the right wing Progress Party is hoping for increased electoral support by promising to close embassies in Africa and stopping budget support to Uganda and Tanzania.

At a press conference the party listed goals for the first 100 days of sitting in government – if elected.

* Stop all aid to Palestinian areas that directly or indirectly support education that furthers anti-Israel or anti-Semitic attitudes.

* Close off all support to “Madras-schools”, Hamas and organizations connected to “terrorism”.

* Stop budget support to Uganda and Tanzania.

* Start a review of the whole Norwegian aid portfolio.

* Close the Norwegian embassies on Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Nicaragua and Kampala.

* Expand the number of countries which do not have to pay import duties. Nigeria, Pakistan and Vietnam will get quota free access to Norwegian markets.

Few political observers think that the Progress Party (which at the moment in the second largest party in parliament) will get a clear majority, even in an alliance with the Conservative Party. Neither is development aid an issue that is important for their voters, but it has a symbolic value. A conservative government after 14 September will probably make some symbolic reductions and changes in Norwegian policy, but not on the scale the Progress Party hopes for.

Jan Speed

One Zim dollar

When I took out this Zimbabwe 1 dollar coined in 1980, to ask people in Harare what it would buy me, they just laughed.

"We are all Americans now," said one man, referring to the fact that   the Zim-dollar was ditched by the country's unity government in February in favour of foreign currencies. Now the US dollar ensures that food, petrol and clothes are again available.

My coin was valued at around one US dollar at the time of being minted in the immediate post-independence euphoria. By the time it was buried earlier this year more than 100 trillion such coins would not have bought a loaf of bread.

Since 1997 the old government of President Robert Mugabe paid for what it could not afford by printing ever larger wads of money in ever higher denominations. This drove up inflation. The politically inspired invasion of commercial farms for the benefit of Mugabe's cronies, further undermined the economy.

Now Zimbabweans see that there are things to be bought.

"I do not have cash to buy these things. Here we still barter tomatoes for maize," tell a farmer.

State employees are getting restless. Doctors have already been on strike. Other groups are sure to follow. A family cannot live easily on US $ 150,- a month in the cities. It will be a difficult spring for the so-called inclusive government to negotiate.

Jan Speed

Opposition ultimatum in Zimbabwe

By John Mokwetsi
for bistandsaktuel.no/bladet

The main opposition party in Zimbabwe, the MDC-T has given an ultimatum to President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara to resolve outstanding issues of the global political agreement (GPA) by Monday 11 May.

The ultimatum signalled growing frustration with the inclusive government, which is struggling to deal with the country’s economic and social problems.

The outstanding issues that remain unresolved include the reappointment of provincial governors, permanent secretaries, ambassadors, Reserve Bank  governor Gideon Gono and Attorney-General Johannes Tomana.
Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara met on Tuesday for the sixth time in two weeks to try to deal with the sticking points.

D-day 17 May
Addressing a press conference in Harare on Wednesday, MDC-T secretary-general Tendai Biti said if the issues were not resolved by Monday, the matter would be referred to the party’s national council, which will meet on May 17, to decide the way forward.
“The delay in settling outstanding issues is an assault on the integrity and health of the all-inclusive government,” Biti said. “It is hoped that these issues will be brought to finality when the three principals meet on Monday... which should be the last meeting… and failure of which we will convene a national council meeting to chart the way forward.”
He, however, said that his party would not pull out of the unity government saying doing so “will be a betrayal of the long suffering people of the MDC and Zimbabwe”.
Biti said the reappointments of Gono and Tomana were unprocedural in that they were executive appointments done after the signing of the GPA, which states that such appointments must be done following agreement by the principals.
Also of concern to the MDC-T, Biti said, was the refusal by Mugabe to swear in its treasurer-general Roy Bennett as the deputy Minister of Agriculture.

Attack on security bosses
Mugabe has cited what he calls “serious charges” against Bennett. Biti said Bennett was innocent until proven guilty. He said according to the GPA, which was now part of the constitution, Mugabe had no powers to refuse to swear-in Bennett after he was nominated by his party. Biti urged the deputy-minister-designate to go to his office and start work.

The MDC-T secretary-general also lashed out at the service chiefs for failing to respect “the new authority in town, which is the office of the Prime Minister”.
He said the service chiefs had shown reluctance to respect Tsvangirai during the Independence Day celebrations and at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair.

“The delay in finding a lasting solution to outstanding issues is of great concern to the MDC,” Biti said. “In our view these issues should have been concluded soon after the formation of the inclusive government in February.”
He said the party was worried that some elements in government, Zanu PF, the security forces and public media continued to disregard provisions of the GPA.

“There are a number of toxic and poisonous attitudes that some of these institutions are showing. Their attitude is as if they are in a war situation,” Biti said.
Biti also raised concerns over the disregard of human rights by state security agents in light of the re-arrests of Zimbabwe Peace Project director, Jestina Mukoko, former personal aide to the Prime Minister, Ghandi Mudzingwa, journalist Shadreck Manyere, and 15 other MDC and civil society activists.

In Focus: a Nordic Blog on Asia

In Focus is the blog of Asiaportal, the Nordic information portal for researchers, students, government officers and journalists with an interest in Asia. Its content is primarily based in the Social Sciences and Humanities. 

This week’s blog entry is on the war crimes tribunal in Cambodia that got under way in February.

In Focus welcomes researchers, students, experts and others to comment on the article or to contact them on bib@nias.ku.dk if you are interested in participating with a blog article in future.

Journalist Ahmed Rashid paints bleak picture of Pakistan’s future

Amila de Saram Larssen

Ahmed Rashid, well known Pakistani author and journalist, is in Oslo and presented his thoughts on “What next for Pakistan? Domestic and Regional Challenges” at a standing-room only talk at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) this morning.

Rashid listed some of the most pressing challenges facing Pakistan including its history of poor civil and military relations, an economic meltdown, the growing threat of extremism and worsening relations with India.

Kofi Annan hopeful about Obama administration's engagement with the world

Jan Speed

Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations,  was in Oslo for the 50th anniversary conference of NUPI (Norwegian Institute for International Affairs) and shared his thoughts on Barack Obama's leadership style and the ways in which the new administration is likely to engage with the world.