WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2007-02-27 Time: 00:00:00 Posted By: Jan
Sun 25 Feb 2007
Defiant Mugabe ignores IMF and throws a party
MACDONALD DZIRUTWE
IN ZIMBABWE PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe held an 83rd birthday party for thousands of supporters yesterday, shortly after the International Monetary Fund expressed deep concern over Zimbabwe’s deteriorating social and economic conditions.
Mugabe has ruled the southern African country since 1980, and critics, who accuse him of human rights violations, say his policies have plunged the economy into deep crisis.
Crowds of school children and supporters from Mugabe’s ruling Zanu-PF party gathered in a stadium in the quiet central Zimbabwe city of Gweru for the celebration of song, dance and poetry. Organisers promised a huge feast.
The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change has said the party was “in bad taste”, given the state of the economy. Doctors, nurses and teachers have staged wildcat strikes, demanding higher wages to cushion against rampant inflation.
The IMF said on Friday it would maintain its suspension of financial and technical assistance to Zimbabwe, which has failed to clear its debt arrears or address the worsening economic and social crisis.
Mugabe turned 83 on Wednesday and struck a defiant tone in an interview with state television. He offered no clues as to how he would reverse a deep recession that has hit urban workers hardest, or on a peaceful transition to a successor who might be able to rebuild international bridges.
“Each and every individual on the upper echelons” is jockeying for his position, Mugabe complained during the interview. But he announced categorically: “There are no vacancies because I am still there.”
Political dissent to his rule is still being crushed. On Wednesday, the government banned political rallies and protests in volatile townships and districts in Harare, a move the opposition compared to a “state of emergency”. On Friday the police cancelled an opposition meeting in the country’s second largest city of Bulawayo.
The three-month ban followed weekend clashes between riot squads and opposition supporters when the police fired-tear gas and water cannons to stop a major rally.
At its December congress, the ruling party noted a motion to extend Mugabe’s rule by two years under a plan to hold both presidential and parliamentary elections in 2010. The motion is expected to be considered by Zanu-PF’s central committee and debated in parliament before the end of the year.
Mugabe co-led Zimbabwe’s 1970s fight to end minority white rule and rejects charges he has run down the economy. He says Britain has orchestrated a Western sabotage campaign to punish him for the seizure of white-owned farms for black people. But years of abuse and neglect are culminating in untenable crises that could signal the end game for the battered Mugabe regime.
“People’s anger is mounting,” said Zimbabwean political scientist John Makumbe. “They’re no longer afraid to go into the streets. I think the government is afraid of what may happen.”
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/entertainment.cfm?id=298792007&bad=398153