LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he would lobby for support for his plan to make banks pay for any future bailout at a Commonwealth summit this week. He also wants Commonwealth leaders meeting in Trinidad and Tobago from Friday to give a push to climate change negotiations and to send a signal that Zimbabwe could be re-admitted to the 53-nation organization if it goes through with reforms. Brown, whose government spent billions bailing out British banks, pressed the Group... Read Full Story
Zimbabwe's prime minister says he is thankful for South African efforts to rescue his coalition government. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, speaking at a party rally Sunday, said South African President Jacob Zuma could visit soon. Zuma's spokesman did not comment on a possible visit by his boss, but said in a statement that a delegation of mediators sent by Zuma was leaving for Zimbabwe Sunday. Tsvangirai boycotted the unity government for three weeks, returning in early November after... Read Full Story
The treason trial of Roy Bennett, a top aide to Zimbabwe's prime minister, was deferred Friday to January next year after a key state witness failed to show up in court to testify. Peter Hitschmann, who was expected to give evidence in the trial of Bennett, the treasurer of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's party, was absent. "He (Hitschmann) did not come because he thought he would not take the witness stand," attorney general Johannes Tomana said in his submissions to the court. "This is... Read Full Story
Several illegal diamond miners were discovered this last week hiding in a pit on the claim now being mined by Canadile Mining in the Chiadzwa Diamond Fields of Zimbabwe. They were handed over to the police and revealed that they had been let in the night before by the security guards at the mine. Forty guards have now lost their jobs because of the security breach. Harare, Zimbabwe, 02 December 2009 Forty guards at the Marange Diamond Fields have been fired for accepting bribes from... Read Full Story
An arms dealer who said he was tortured into testifying will be allowed to take the stand in the terror trial of a top ally of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, a judge ruled Wednesday. The trial of Roy Bennett, a top Tsvangirai aide and treasurer to his party, has thrown Zimbabwe's fragile unity government into crisis with claims that the former white farmer schemed to overthrown President Robert Mugabe three years ago. Arms dealer Peter Hitschmann is the state's star witness against... Read Full Story
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's government has proposed that "indigenous Zimbabweans" take 51 percent ownership of all foreign companies, including mines and banks, according to a draft law seen by Reuters Friday. An official at the Chamber of Mines expressed surprise and concern at the proposed legislation, prepared by the Ministry of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment. "We haven't seen the regulations but if what we've heard is true, then that's a step back. It goes against... Read Full Story
Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and ministers from his party attended a cabinet meeting on Wednesday after recently ending a three-week boycott of the country's fragile unity government. "The prime minister and all the ministers from his party attended cabinet," James Maridadi, a spokesman for Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change party, told AFP. Tsvangirai, a longtime opposition leader, joined his rival President Robert Mugabe in a unity government deal in February this... Read Full Story
JOHANNESBURG/HARARE (Reuters) - United Nations torture expert Manfred Nowak called on Thursday for action against Zimbabwe after his expulsion, and said the move underscored disarray in the unity government. Zimbabwean officials denied him entry and forced him to board a South Africa-bound plane on Thursday after he was detained by security officials on arrival overnight. He said he had been invited to Zimbabwe by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, whose power-sharing deal with President... Read Full Story
At the last minute, Zimbabwe on Wednesday blocked the United Nations' torture investigator from visiting the country where opponents to President Robert Mugabe have been attacked and harassed, but he vowed to go anyway at the invitation of the prime minister. The actions by Zimbabwe, which had invited Manfred Nowak but then told him not to come after he had flown all the way from Vienna to Johannesburg en route to neighboring Zimbabwe, underscores the government's split personality. Prime... Read Full Story
The terrorism trial of Zimbabwe's Roy Bennett, which prompted Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's government boycott was due to resume Monday in Harare. "The Bennett trial who facing terrorism charges is expected to start today at 10am (1200 GMT)," his lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa told AFP. "However, before the trial starts there are some preliminary issues we want to raise as we feel these are out of order and they are hear say," she said. Mtetwa said she was concerned that the testimony of one of... Read Full Story
