who am I kidding ... it's ALL about Africa
It’s over.
The Zim novelist Ian Holding offers a stunningly honest eye-witness account of the government's campaign of home demolitions.
How much more can these poor people take!
From US $227 in June the expenditure basket for a family of six had shot up by at least $135 to $362 in July, the consumer council noted. "The increase was largely propelled by ... both food and non-food items, following last month's increase in fuel prices and the devaluation of the local currency".
Teachers generally earn $648 a month, while domestic workers get an average monthly wage of $21. (source)
Alex de Waal has an essay on Sudan over at the Prospect magazine.
The peace process took a severe knock when Garang’s helicopter came down. But the procedures under the peace deal for replacing Garang and forming the government of national unity are clear. Omer al Bashir stays as president, and real power resides with the two vice-presidents, Kiir — who must now fly to Khartoum to be sworn in — and [Ali Osman] Taha. It can still work.
Nobody can be truly surprised by this ...
Cabinet has confirmed South Africa's willingness, in principle, to assist Zimbabwe, including providing a loan facility in relation to Zimbabwe's obligations to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).Zimbabwe had asked for US$1 billion.
Briefing the media after Cabinet's fortnightly meeting today, Joel Netshitenzhe, the government communications (GCIS) head, said government's approach on the issue was premised on the principle that such assistance should benefit the Zimbabwean people as a whole, "within the context of their programme of economic recovery and political normalisation."
Further, government would work with the United Nations (UN) and South African religious leaders to provide emergency humanitarian assistance, including particularly in the aftermath of "Operation Restore Order", he said. (source)
According to reports, members of the presidential guard took over the armed forces headquarters, and state television and radio stations today. President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya was out of the country at the time, having left to attend Tuesday's funeral of Saudi Arabia's King Fahd. Taya is now in Niamey, Niger.
"We have heard that there has been a coup d'etat but we don't know who's involved. We don't know whether it is something that has succeeded or failed," Sid Ahmed Abeidna, the British honorary consul in Nouakchott, told Reuters. (source)A bit more detail ....
A military source said "several senior officers" had been arrested but could not say if they had been detained by loyalists or rebels.UPDATE It's a coup ...
In June 2003 a bloody uprising failed to unseat Ould Taya, and was followed in August and September of last year by two more alleged coup attempts. (source)
Many people headed to work as usual in the capital [on Thursday, August 4]. Traffic flowed freely and small groups of soldiers guarded key buildings, though in smaller numbers than on Wednesday.
State radio said the 17-member military council would be headed by Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, naming a list of members comprised of officers in the various security forces.
Widely respected by fellow officers in Mauritania, Vall had for a long time been regarded as a close ally of the president, having participated in the 1984 coup that brought Taya to power and served as his security chief.
Analysts said the high-level backing for the coup in the security forces reflected widespread discontent with Taya, although it was unclear how far its leaders were motivated by ending repression rather than by personal gain.
"It definitely seems to me that there's a degree of unanimity with in the security forces, evidenced by the fact that there was nobody killed yesterday," said Mike McGovern, West Africa project director for the Crisis Group think-tank.
"The level of popular discontent in Mauritania is quite high."
The United States, African Union, South Africa and United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan all condemned the seizure of power in the country of 2.9 million people. (source)
