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 05 September 2008 06:04 BST

Continental view – Africa

Tuesday, 08 Jul 2008 14:30
Dozens died in plane fire at Khartoum airport
A selection of the top news stories making the headlines in Africa in the last two months.

Mugabe v Tsvangirai – a one-sided contest

Those who feared Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe would use intimidation on the streets to help secure a win in a runoff vote against Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) rival Morgan Tsvangirai were proved utterly correct in the last two months.

Mr Tsvangirai returned to Zimbabwe to fight the runoff on May 24th and a senior MDC figure, senator David Coltart, appeared optimistic five days later. He appeared to predict a major electoral victory for the challenger.

But a campaign of repression targeting MDC activists followed. Mr Tsvangirai was arrested several times; a senior MDC official was detained on a treason charge, facing the death penalty; and by the last week of June nearly 90 people were estimated to have died in political violence.

Mr Mugabe's response was to dismiss the accusations as lies. He upped his anti-MDC rhetoric, hinting at the use of violence if his revolutionary changes were threatened. June 20th saw him stating at a rally: "The MDC will never be allowed to rule this country - never ever."

By June 22nd the MDC had had enough. Mr Tsvangirai said the outcome of the election is "determined by… Mugabe himself" after pressure from party members unable to cope with the one-sided contest. The following day saw Mr Tsvangirai seeking refuge in the Dutch embassy in Harare, while appealing for negotiation with Zanu-PF.

Baffling commentators as he sought the rubber stamp of legitimacy, Mr Mugabe went ahead with the one-sided vote on June 27th. He took over 85 per cent of the vote, with more than 400,000 Zimbabweans registering their protest by defacing the ballot paper. Two days later, however, their actions made no difference. Mr Mugabe was sworn in at his State House residence for another five years – and a sixth term in power.

Click here for a summary of Robert Mugabe's disastrous time in power.

Progress in the Horn of Africa

A glimmer of hope emerged from the Horn of Africa in the last two months, with a tentative peace agreement between Somalia's warring factions.

The east African state has been without a functioning central government since 1991 and has faced widespread disorder since an Ethiopian military intervention ousted Islamists from Mogadishu in December 2006.

June 2008 saw the transitional federal government and the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS) make a deal on the first stages of the Djibouti agreement.

This lays out first-stage agreements on the cessation of armed conflict, the deployment of peacekeepers and high-level political cooperation.

The British government, along with the rest of the international community, believes it is now up to Somalis themselves to heal the country's divides.

Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon's special representative to Somalia, berated Somalis in a speech at London's Chatham House on June 20th.

He said: "You spend the day fighting, you spend the night fighting. This country is plundered because its own citizens have no time for it. It is a disaster."

June 20th: Foreign Office looks to Somalia for peace progress

Mbeki troops quash immigrant violence

Simmering tensions between South Africa's newest arrivals and its more established communities spilt over into a week of violence at the end of May.

At least 24 people were killed in violent attacks across South Africa which began in Johannesburg but spread to Durban.

The army eventually had to be deployed to quash the unrest, with police arresting at least 300 people in connection with the violence.

Weeks later former president Nelson Mandela celebrated his 90th birthday in London. His achievements, it seems, have not rid the country of many of its most deep-seated problems.

Click here for full story

Other major developments

June 6th: Famine warning. Unicef said soaring food prices and drought are threatening to cause a new famine in Ethiopia.
Click here for full story

June 11th: Plane fire kills at least 28. The crash at Khartoum airport in Sudan occurred when a Sudan Airways plane was taxiing along the runway after landing from Amman.
Click here for full story

June 17th: Alleged mercenary on trial. Simon Man, accused of engineering a failed coup in Equatorial Guinea, went on trial.
Click here for full storyEnd of story


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