Denford Magora's Latest Zimbabwe News Blog

UPDATE: The goverment of Robert Mugabe has refused to give Kofi Annan, Jimmy Carter and Graca Machel visas to enter Zimbabwe on a humanitarian mission. The group, known as the Elders, and set up by Nelson Mandela, a man Mugabe loathes, applied for visas seveal weeks ago but the answer was no. Annan tried to call Mugabe this past week, but the Zimbabwean dictator refused to come to the phone. Carter also tried, with the same result. There were last-minute, frantic efforts that also involved the South African government, former SA president and mediator Thabo Mbeki and others in trying to make the ageing dictator see sense, but he rebuffed all of them. Last night, "a very senior official" from Mugabe's illegal government told Annan point blank over the phone that if he set foot on Zimbabwean soil, he would be immediately deported. The elders have now retreated. Petulantly, Mugabe's refusal to entertain the intervention of the South Affricans is, in his own mind, payba...

Morris Depot, Zimbabwe's Police Headquarters was bombed early yesterday, according to The Times. Locally the bombing was not reported at all, although this may change this morning. The report says the bomb ripped through the offices of the CID (Criminal Investigations Department) and Interpol. It is almost certainly the work of some soldiers, two of whom have since been arrested. Says The Times: “All documents related to car clearances and other investigations have been destroyed,” said a police sergeant. He said the police had arrested some soldiers in connection with the blast but he could not say how many. The suspects were from a nearby army barracks, known as KG Six, situated behind Morris depot. “We are still waiting for more details,” said the source. Initial investigations suggest the suspects bombed the offices in an attempt to destroy evidence linking them to a theft case. The police have declined to make any official comment on the blast, which occurred inside a high sec...