Joao Bernardo Vieira, President of Guinea-Bissau, Assassinated By Renegade Soldiers

Photo: (Thierry Charlier) President Joao Bernardo Vieira, Guinea-Bissau

I must admit, I never thought much about Guinea-Bissau until I heard on the news this morning that its president, Joao Bernardo “Nino” Vieira, was assassinated in his palace today by a group of soldiers, hours after his rival was murdered in a bomb blast. The military issued a statement broadcast on state radio and attributed President Vieira’s death to an “isolated” group of unidentified soldiers whom the armed forces said they were now hunting down. Right.

This upheaval is nothing new to the former Portuguese colony, which has suffered multiple coups and attempted coups since 1980, when Vieira himself first took power in one. The United Nations says the impoverished nation on the Atlantic coast of Africa has recently become a key transit point for cocaine smuggled from Latin America to Europe.

It’s just a shame that some of the African countries just can’t get their acts together and focus on making these countries better. Take Zimbabwe’s dictator Robert Mugabe, for example. As the country is rocked by stratospheric unemployment rates, he had a lavish birthday bash, fit for the king of a wealthy country. Africa is so rich in so many things, it is a shame that so many of the continent’s countries are mired in such ills and unscrupulous and criminal leaders. I don’t know much about this country, but corruption begets corruption. With President Vieira’s murder, let’s see if the country will regain its footing. I seriously doubt it will change drastically.

Filed under: Assassination, Guinea-Bissau, Joao Bernardo "Nino" Vieira, Military Coup, Political Unrest, Portuguese Colony, Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe Inaugurated After Stealing Presidency in Plain View

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s inauguration is a grave injustice and the world should not sit by and let this despot claim the presidency without sanctions. What he has done is a great travesty and he should not be allowed to come out of this unscathed. When he is sworn in later today, he will extend his nearly three decades in power after a discredited election overshadowed by violence against the opposition–literally quieting the voice of the people. World leaders condemned the election, in which Mugabe was the only candidate, but what do they intend to do?

Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition candidate, pulled out of the runoff because of the attacks, which left more than 80 dead and forced about 200,000 people to flee their homes. On Sunday, Tsvangirai rejected an invitation to the inauguration, calling it meaningless after an illegitimate poll and saying he would ask the African Union not to recognize Mugabe’s re-election. Is this the democracy that Robert Mugabe expects his fellow countrymen and women to bask in?

Human Rights Watch said Sunday in a statement that Mugabe supporters beat people who could not prove they had voted. On Sunday, state radio quoted Mugabe, 84, who has been president since Zimbabwe won independence from Britain in 1980, as saying that he was confident of winning and thanking voters for their support.

Morgan Tsvangirai won the most votes in the first round of presidential voting in March, but it was not enough for an outright victory, according to a government count. African mediators have been pushing in recent days for Mugabe and Tsvangirai to negotiate a power-sharing agreement.

Mugabe said on the eve of the vote that he was open to talks but pressed ahead with the election, apparently hoping a victory would give him leverage at the negotiating table. But it appears he will be able to draw little legitimacy from the runoff.

I was pleased when President George W. Bush entered the fray with a move towards sanctions against the country. President Bush called for an international arms embargo against Zimbabwe in the wake of last week’s “sham election,” and announced that the United States is drafting new economic sanctions that, for the first time, would take aim at the entire government of President Robert Mugabe.

“The international community has condemned the Mugabe regime’s ruthless campaign of politically motivated violence and intimidation,” Bush said in a statement from the presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland, adding that he had directed his secretaries of treasury and state to develop sanctions “against this illegitimate government of Zimbabwe and those who support it.” For once I can say with a straight face that I agree with President Bush’s position. Let’s be realistic, however, an international embargo will almost certainly run into opposition at the United Nations from South Africa, Russia and China. South Africa has long said that the Zimbabwe election is an internal affair.

The United States’ own sanctions, by contrast, can be carried out unilaterally. American officials and outside experts said they hope the sanctions would put pressure on Zimbabwe’s mining industry, a crucial source of foreign exchange for a government that is very short of it. The sanctions are expected to restrict the government’s ability to do business with American companies, although it is unclear which agencies or state-controlled businesses would be affected.

Final thoughts…..

Robert Mugabe cannot be allowed to get away with this injustice, but the people of his country must get up and fight against this travesty. No-one from the outside can fix this problem for them. They have to want change and fight for change, no matter what the consequences. I am reminded of the civil rights struggles that occurred in the United States and there were many people who gave their lives for the right to be a citizen and to be treated with dignity. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did not run from anyone, but stood steadfast in his beliefs, along with millions of blacks and whites who felt that it was time for change.

Robert Mugabe has plundered Zimbabwe and he has literally raped this country of its dignity and its resources. About five million Zimbabweans have fled the country since 2000, as the country has suffered from the highest inflation rate in history in the world. There is a decreasing job market, lack of steady food supply and an oppressive government. This is the same country in which white farmers were exacted from their lands, on the order of Robert Mugabe.”In 1980, the average annual income in Zimbabwe was US$950, and a Zimbabwean dollar was worth more than an American one. By 2003, the average income was less than US$400, and the Zimbabwean economy was in freefall.” Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe for three decades and has led it, in that time, from impressive success to the most dramatic peacetime collapse of any country since Weimar Germany“.

In the The Daily Telegraph of London, Mugabe was criticized for comparing himself to Hitler. Mugabe was quoted as saying “This Hitler has only one objective: justice for his people, sovereignty for his people, recognition of the independence of his people and their rights over their resources. If that is Hitler, then let me be a Hitler tenfold”.

On 9 March 2003, President George Bush approved measures for economic sanctions to be leveled against Mugabe and other high-ranking Zimbabwe politicians, freezing their assets and barring Americans from engaging in any transactions or dealings with them. Justifying the move, Bush’s spokesman stated that the President and Congress believe that “the situation in Zimbabwe endangers the southern African region and threatens to undermine efforts to foster good governance and respect for the rule of law throughout the continent.” The world cannot sit idly back and watch Mugabe continue to pillage his country and subdue Zimbabweans into accepting this. Robert Mugabe’s inauguration is indeed a sad day for democracy as we know it. Just my thoughts, you be the judge……

Filed under: Morgan Tsvangirai, President George W. Bush, Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe

Hillary Clinton Casts Wide Net With More Exaggerations, Overstatements about Her Phantom Lead

Hillary Clinton has lost her mind. During an evening rally in Montana’s largest city Tuesday night, she explained why she should be the Democratic Party’s nominee, but according to media reports, what ensued was a list of overstatements and exaggerations as she made her case. “You have to ask yourself, who is the stronger candidate? And based on every analysis, of every bit of research and every poll that has been taken and every state that a Democrat has to win, I am the stronger candidate against John McCain in the fall,” she said. Wait a minute, there’s a really big problem here. There are a number of polls that show Clinton in a close race with John McCain, many within the margin of error, not including a few that show Barack Obama beating McCain by a larger margin than Clinton.

Once again, Hillary Clinton stopped at nothing to make herself look good. The comment was intended to prove to voters that despite Obama’s popularity, she has what it takes to beat John McCain. Clinton said that voters have to ask themselves, “Who is the stronger candidate against John McCain? We have not gone through this exciting, unprecedented, historic election, only to lose,” she said. Helloo, girlfriend, news flash! You are losing! Clinton has been shamelessly grasping at almost anything to make her case to voters as the clock in the campaign winds down. Most recently Clinton compared the plight of Florida and Michigan voters to the struggles of the early suffragists and likened the primaries of those states to the fraudulent election that took place in Zimbabwe.

The fallout from the Zimbabwe comments have been largely ignored by the mainstream media. I guess people have started tuning her out, but it bears some commentary. The Zimbabwe Ambassador to the United States Machivenyika Mapuranga took offense to her comments. He said that Clinton’s comparison was made “out of ignorance or malice” and do not “tally with the facts.””There were four presidential candidates and none of them attained the requisite threshold of 50 percent plus one vote,” Mapuranga told Redding News Review. “The Electoral Act provides that in that event there must be a run-off between the two top candidates.” Clinton, who is hoping that the inclusion of vote counts from the Florida and Michigan primaries will help her win her party’s nomination, said last Wednesday that it is wrong when people go through the motions of an election only to have them discarded and disregarded, according to CBS News. “We’re seeing that right now in Zimbabwe,” she was reported to have told a crowd in South Florida. “Tragically, an election was held, the President [Mugabe] lost, they refused to abide by the will of the people,” she said.

“The 29th March 2008 election resulted in the ruling party (ZANU-PF) winning 97 seats, and the opposition party (MDC) winning 99 seats, as declared by the independent electoral commission,” Mapuranga said. “If Sen. Hillary Clinton was not aware of these facts, her ignorance can be excused considering the stressful situation she is in because of her faltering campaign; but if she was aware of the facts, we can only conclude that this is yet another of her misspoken utterances.” So, I guess Hillary Clinton has a lot of experience as she has repeatedly said on the campaign trail–experience in terms of making a list of exaggerations, overstatemetns and misstatements. So while Robert Mugabe has been considered by many to be a tyrant and trying to steal an election, it bears some notice that Hillary Clinton will do and say anything to make herself look half-way decent. She reminds me of that guy, a cabinet member in Saddam Hussein’s administration that kept saying that Saddam’s army was advancing and beating back the allied forces, as the city crumbled around him. Just my thoughts, you be the judge…..

Filed under: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe