Now here's a guy that needs to die quickly

[Yao]

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/africa/08/31/zimbabwe.constitution.reut/index.html

Mugabe tightens power grip

Wednesday, August 31, 2005 Posted: 1332 GMT (2132 HKT)

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (Reuters) -- The constitutional tightening of President Robert Mugabe's grip on power has all but dashed South African hopes of mediating an end to Zimbabwe's crisis or keeping it in the IMF, analysts said on Wednesday.

Mugabe rammed constitutional changes through his ZANU-PF dominated parliament on Tuesday giving his government powers to nationalize white-owned commercial farms, re-introduce an upper chamber Senate and restrict suspected dissidents.

"Essentially we are seeing a regression, not progress in resolving Zimbabwe's crisis," said Chris Maroleng, specialist on Zimbabwe at the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies.

He said it was now difficult to see how South Africa can persuade a supremacist ZANU-PF to negotiate power sharing with the opposition, a move seen by African leaders as key to ending five years of political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe.

Mugabe also now looks less likely to accept South Africa's widely reported offer to help pay Zimbabwe's $295 million arrears to the IMF to prevent Harare's expulsion, in return for Mugabe agreeing some political concessions.

Senior Zimbabwean officials have scorned any idea of accepting conditions set by South Africa. Zimbabwe is also unlikely to agree IMF demands for fiscal reforms to mend an economy struggling with a jobless rate of over 70 percent, triple digit inflation and acute shortages, analysts say.

An IMF mission is wrapping up two weeks of talks in Harare on Wednesday, and Zimbabwe looks likely to face expulsion next month. Neither side has commented publicly on the talks.

"It is now much more difficult for the IMF mission not to recommend the expulsion of Zimbabwe from the Fund," Maroleng said. "For one thing the amendment will effectively lead to bigger government where, in the IMF's view, government spending should essentially be reduced," he added.

Other analysts said the IMF would first have to garner the necessary 85 percent vote for expulsion from IMF member states, among which are African states supportive of Mugabe.
Mugabe sits pretty

South African President Thabo Mbeki has failed in two years to persuade a confident Mugabe to hold talks between ZANU-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Mugabe denies opposition charges of vote rigging and calls the MDC a puppet of Britain and other Western powers he says want "regime change" in Harare. The government recently rejected mediation by an African Union appointed envoy.

The new Senate will have 66 members, six of them appointed by Mugabe, who can already appoint 20 lower house members.

The amendments on land appropriation will effectively bar white farmers from using the courts to challenge the seizure of their property under Mugabe's land reform program, which economists say has ruined a once-thriving agricultural sector.

The government will also be able to wield new weapons against political opponents, imposing travel bans on Zimbabweans suspected of engaging in terrorist training abroad or who have called for sanctions or military action against Zimbabwe.

"The legislators have failed in their duty to protect all their constituents from the endless attacks on their basic rights and freedoms," said Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights.

A likely new bill could repeal a requirement for elections to be held in 90 days should the president die or be incapacitated. This would allow Mugabe to pick a successor without subjecting him or her to an electoral contest.

Some analysts said that on the positive side, the amendments could lead to further constitutional changes that would allow Mugabe, 81, and in power since independence from Britain in 1980, to become a ceremonial president.

Copyright 2005 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

This guy keeps pissing me off beyond belief. He's moving towards the end of his life (which can never arrive too soon), and he just keeps tightening his strangling grip on the country. Millions displaced, and economic crisis for the last 5 years that is almost unprecedented, and all the motherfucking despot can think of is: "how can I get more power, more money, piss off more people and make sure the shit keeps going on long after I die?"

Even China looks like heaven compared to this country (politically that is), this guy deserves the same death as Samuel Doe had in Liberia, 1990 and it should be videotaped as well. Fuck him.