Mugabe is in the news two ways: defiant to leaving his position and apparently willing to make an opposition leader the prime minister.
'Zimbabwe is mine' says Mugabe Module body
1 hour, 3 minutes ago
BINDURA, Zimbabwe (AFP) - President Robert Mugabe declared Friday that "Zimbabwe is mine" and vowed never to surrender to calls to step down, as his political rival threatened to quit stalled unity government talks.
Addressing his ZANU-PF party's annual conference amid a ruinous political crisis and a deadly cholera epidemic , Mugabe returned to the kind of defiance he has often shown in the face of mounting criticism.
"I will never, never, never, never surrender. Zimbabwe is mine, I am a Zimbabwean. Zimbabwe for Zimbabweans. Zimbabwe never for the British, Britain for the British," Mugabe told his party's annual conference.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/081219/world/zimbabwe_politicsMugabe asks Tsvangirai to take up prime minister postReuters
Published: December 19, 2008
By Nelson Banya
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe announced on Friday he had invited rival Morgan Tsvangirai to be sworn-in as prime minister in a shared government, but expressed doubt whether he would accept.
The United States, which has called on Mugabe to step down, said it suspected the offer was a ruse.
Opposition leader Tsvangirai threatened to ask for a suspension of power-sharing talks if the government did not stop what he called the persecution of political opponents.
The deadlock between Mugabe and Tsvangirai has held up any chance of ending the spiralling crisis in the southern African country, where a spreading cholera epidemic has killed more than 1,100 people and food and fuel are in short supply.
http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/2008/12/19/africa/OUKWD-UK-ZIMBABWE-CRISIS.phpWhile President Mugabe cries "mine," his people are not any better--inflation and cholera have a pervasive hold on the populace. From
The Times in South Africa:
Zimbabwe cholera deaths top 1,000 AFP Published:Dec 18, 2008
The death toll from cholera in Zimbabwe has passed 1,000 and the epidemic is continuing to spread, the United Nations said today.
Latest figures from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) recorded 1,111 deaths and 20,581 suspected cases.
"The devastating cholera epidemic continues to spread, with a new outbreak in Chegutu Urban, recording more than 378 suspected cases and 121 deaths," said an OCHA statement. Chegutu is a region neighbouring the capital Harare.
Harare remained the worst-hit area, with 224 people killed by the disease and 9,072 thought to be suffering from it.
http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=907343