Amanpour gets rare interview with Mugabe

On Amanpour this Thursday, Christiane Amanpour sits down for an exclusive live interview with the President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe. In Mugabe’s first interview with a major Western media outlet in years, Christiane will explore the historic power-sharing agreement with the unity government there, and get the president’s thoughts on the highly-emotive issue of land redistribution.

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Desperation stalks Zimbabwe’s white farmers

A desperate Zimbabwean farmer fighting to hold onto his land — a year after the country’s political rivals pledged to govern jointly — fears he will eventually lose to politics and violence. The power-sharing agreement included an undertaking by both parties to ensure property rights are upheld but farm attacks and invasions continue unabated in Zimbabwe

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A Post-Mugabe Zimbabwe: Still Slow in Coming

For years, much of the debate over Zimbabwe has been preoccupied with how much, and how publicly, to criticize its despotic longtime leader Robert Mugabe. In the past, the West routinely harangued the ailing 85-year-old dictator, a former liberation hero who has ruled for 29 years.

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Mugabe condemns ‘bloody whites,’ meets with EU delegation

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has condemned “bloody whites” for meddling in his country’s affairs and attacked the West for trying to impose its rule on the southern African nation. Mugabe’s comments on Friday came a day before he met a delegation of European Union representatives who are in the country to ease relations and push progress on Zimbabwe’s political reforms

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U.N. official: Zimbabwe’s woes ‘pose signficant challenge’

The "humanitarian situation remains serious" in Zimbabwe amid cholera, starvation and a continuing economic crisis, a United Nations official said Wednesday at a World Humanitarian Day ceremony in Harare.

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U.S. pledges $73 million in aid to Zimbabwe

The United States will provide $73 million in aid to Zimbabwe, President Obama announced Friday after meeting with Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai at the White House. “I obviously have extraordinary admiration for the courage and tenacity that the prime minister has shown in navigating through some very difficult political times in Zimbabwe,” Obama said. “There was a time when Zimbabwe was the breadbasket of Africa, and [it] continues to have enormous potential.

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Violence spreads across South Africa

The atmosphere was tense in Cape Town on Friday after xenophobic violence that has left more than 40 dead in Johannesburg spread to South Africa’s largest city. Clashes overnight resulted in one death and 15 arrests and the evacuations of 420 foreign nationals, a police official in Cape Town said. “Crowds of people went on a rampage, looting and carrying out acts of violence,” said Cape Town Police Superintendent Billy Jones.

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Zimbabwe ‘surviving on beer and cigarettes’

Zimbabwe’s new finance minister Wednesday complained that President Robert Mugabe’s government is running on taxes and duties paid on beer and cigarettes. As he presented his revised 2009 budget to parliament, Finance Minister Tendai Biti noted that “indirect taxes made up of customs and excise duty have contributed 88 percent of government revenue, which means that the government has been literally sustained by beer and cigarettes.” “This is unacceptable,” the minister added.

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