Commentariat

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There is already famine in Africa but it is not the fault of the Soil Association or British organic food markets. Up to 14 million people in the Horn of Africa are at risk of starvation and this has little to do with Western-imposed attitudes to organic farming. Millions more are suffering in Zimbabwe, and food riots have flared from Egypt to Mozambique. The root of the problem in almost every case is political, not scientific.

To understand Robert Mugabe’s speeches is to grasp what might unfold in Zimbabwe, writes David Blair.

Blessing-Miles Tendi: Images of beaten Zimbabweans testify to the failure of the human rights revolution of the 1990s

Blessing-Miles Tendi: Images of beaten Zimbabweans testify to the failure of the human rights revolution of the 1990s

Please don’t miss Peter Oborne’s magnificent piece on Zimbabwe in today’s Daily Mail. Peter has covered the tragedy of that country with necessary relentlessness and courage. His great fear is that the rest of us are forgetting Zimbabwe: The world’s…

Ha-ha. Brilliant. Just when you think the papers are full of stuff that’s
quite tricky to write a column about because it’s too scary (Austria,
Zimbabwe, Burma), or too dull (Charlotte Church would like to remind all new
mothers of the importance of breastfeeding. YES, WE KNOW) – the story, the
titbit if you will, of the year comes along and saves the day.

Leader: Morgan Tsvangirai was right to decide to return to Zimbabwe to contest the second round runoff

This post may well ruin your Saturday breakfast, and it is shocking. The article highlights some of the physical violence used by those working for Mr Mugabe and his friends in their campaign to retain power in Zimbabwe. Not pleasant - but neither is Zanu PF’s campaign.

The declaration of the presidential election result in Zimbabwe, when it finally came last Friday, was rather eclipsed by the cascade of Labour local election defeats here in Britain. And the opposition Movement for Democratic Change is quite right to ask how far the belated result corresponds to the actual vote. Party officials were convinced at the end of voting, more than five weeks ago, that their leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, had won the more than 50 per cent required to avoid a run-off. The declared result, following resort to the courts, international pressure and a recount, is that he won just short of 48 per cent, against Robert Mugabe’s 43 per cent.