Thabo Mbeki

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U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon opened a nine-day African tour telling United Nations personnel Tuesday that the world's economic woes won't wreck their efforts to reduce poverty, war and effects of climate change. "Even in the midst of this global financial crisis, if we work together and coordinate closely we can still reach better outcomes," he said at a dinner with several dozen top U.N. staffers in South Africa. Despite more than a half-trillion dollars of world aid spent on Africa in the 50 years since the first African countries won independence, many Africans are poorer now than a quarter century ago. Total aid to ... Read Full Story

Washington Post published an article on 15 April 2008 on Rogue Democracies. This was not the first time Mbeki’s dodgy alliances were announced on the world stage but it certainly makes for interesting reading - here is a quote from the article: FOR THOSE who argue that democracies are natural allies in international affairs, South Africa poses a vexing challenge. Since that country began serving a term on the U.N. Security Council last year, the government of President Thabo Mbeki has consistently allied itself with the world’s rogue states and against the Western democracies. It has defended Iran’s nuclear program and resisted sanctions against ... Read Full Story

For the second time in two years, Zimbabwe’s central bank is slashing zeros off its largely worthless currency. This time 10 zeros will go, making $10 billion equal to $1. The central bank’s governor Gideon Gono chopped 10 zeros off the Zimbabwe dollar and reintroduded coins which have been obsolete for years. The highest denomination of Zimbabwe currency is currently 100 billion. After the currency announcement, President Robert Mugabe warned in a televised event Wednesday that he will declare a state of emergency if prices continue to rise. Officially inflation is at 2.2 million percent, but private sector economists estimate it is at least ... Read Full Story

The political crisis in Zimbabwe continues as the rivals have failed to agree on a deal. The parties failed to agree at the end of the SADC summit in South Africa where the Zimbabwe crisis was high on the agenda. Meanwhile the Troika security organ of SADC will continue to meet with the Zimbabwe leaders to find a 'speedy resolution' to the problems in the country, South African President Thabo Mbeki said on Sunday. In his closing address of the SADC Summit, he said the council had been meeting with rival leaders in Zimbabwe and would continue on Sunday even after the summit had ... Read Full Story