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Zimbabwean President Mnangagwa carpets ‘meddlesome’ UK government, tells them to ‘mind their business’

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The President of Zimbabwe, Emmerson Mmangagwa, has warned “meddlesome” Britain to mind its business and face its own problems instead of poking its nose into the affairs of his country through “contrived stories and false oppositional narratives.”

Mnangagwa who was responding to claims by British House of Lords representatives that the governing Zanu PF party was targeting the opposition, said the country’s former colonial masters had more than enough problems to face back home and has no right to tell Zimbabwe, a sovereign nation, what to do and how to run its affairs.

In a statement on Tuesday through his spokesman, George Charamba, President Mnangagwa, said the UK has been trying to control the country in the past but that it was time they focused on their own troubles.

Charamba noted that the British, “through their sponsored opposition and non-governmental organisations, have been desperately trying to block the passage of the Private and Voluntary Organisation (PVO) Bill, because according to it, and erroneously so, it infringes on constitutional liberties. But the Bill is actually seeking to end money laundering and rein in foreign funding of local politics.”

President Mnangagwa who has insisted that nothing will stop the Bill from being passed, said “come rain or sunshine, the Bill would be passed following the laws of this country.

“The PVO Bill, which they are fretting about, will be passed. It is a Zimbabwean law, meant to deal with a Zimbabwean situation and it will proceed that way.

“However, we also thank them, the British government and the House of Lords, for confirming that they continue to meddle in our own affairs.

“The British Lords should not be in the habit of writing fiction about Zimbabwe in order to debate it. They have so much on their plate, there is their soaring inflation at home, there are certain oddities that are happening within their own Parliament, they have blowbacks relating to their exit of Europe, not to mention what is happening in Eastern Europe and of course, their own domestic policy which gets them to want to use foreign affairs as a red herring.

“When you go through the things they allege are happening in Zimbabwe, you cannot but wonder if their embassy here is of any use at all. Nothing that they are raising or debating approximates the reality on the ground.

“Anyway, the point must be made and made instantly that in 1980, Zimbabwe got independence and has absolutely nothing to do with the British, (which is) made worse by the fact that the British, in their lack of wisdom, decided to slap Zimbabwe with sanctions it does not deserve. Can you imagine if the European Union was to invoke its own values and expectations with respect to Britain after Brexit?

“Why do they think we still stand beholden to a colonial power we ousted from this country? How do they stand in loco parenthesis (in the place of a parent) to us?

“They must mind their own business, they cut relations with us (and) we got nothing from them except for their own pestering and to that extent, we don’t pay attention to what they are saying.”

Politics

Kenya: Senior ICC prosecutor drops probe into 2007 post-election violence

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A senior official of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Nazhat Shameen Khan has announced an end to all further investigations into crimes committed in Kenya relating to violence that erupted following elections in 2007.

The ICC Deputy Chief Prosecutor said the 13-year legal saga, which involved senior Kenyan politicians, had been dropped

“I have reached this decision after considering the specific facts and circumstances of this situation,” she said in a statement.

“Accordingly, the Office will not pursue additional cases into the alleged criminal responsibility of other persons.”

Prosecutors claim that during the nation’s post-election violence in 2010, some 600,000 people were left homeless, and 1,300 people killed in a case in which suspects included former and current Kenyan presidents, Uhuru Kenyatta and President William Ruto. The Hague-based tribunal began looking into the incident in 2010. Six suspects were initially charged with crimes against humanity, which included deportation and murder.

However, in 2014, former chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda dropped the charges against Kenyatta, and in 2016, the prosecution’s case against Ruto was also dropped due to insufficient evidence. The lack of evidence caused the case against all six to fall apart.

Prosecutors opened a new investigation into witness intimidation and bribery after Bensouda claimed that an unrelenting campaign of intimidation against victims and witnesses prevented a trial.

Decades after the “third wave of democratisation,” widespread violence still occurs in sub-Saharan Africa after elections. Nigeria, Ivory Coast, and Zimbabwe, among others, have had their share of election conflicts.

Kenya is still not free from election disturbances, as levels of violence also played out during and after the 2022 elections.

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Sierra Leonean govt finally labels weekend attack ‘failed coup’

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The Sierra Leonean government has finally labelled attacks on several locations in the capital, Freetown, on Sunday as failed attempt to overthrow the government, having previously refraining from so classifying it.

Authorities in the West African nation said that gunmen stormed a military barracks, a prison, and other locations on Sunday, freeing roughly 2,200 prisoners and leaving over 20 people dead. On Monday, everything had returned to normal.

“The incident was a failed attempted coup. The intention was to illegally subvert and overthrow a democratically elected government,” said President Julius Bio.

“The attempt failed, and plenty of the leaders are either in police custody or on the run. We will try to capture them and bring them to the full force of the laws of Sierra Leone.”

The tense situation in Sierra Leone, which is still recuperating from a civil war that claimed over 50,000 lives between 1991 and 2002, has persisted since Bio was re-elected in June.

International allies, such as the US and the EU, questioned the outcome, and the major opposition candidate rejected it.

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