Harare — ZANU PF has blacklisted 41 online publications, including websites for American-owned Cable News Network (CNN) and the United States Embassy in Harare, which it claims have launched a cyber war to promote a regime change agenda against President Robert Mugabe's government, the Zimbabwe Independent can reveal.

It was not immediately apparent what measures, if any, the party can take against offending websites.

The list of the websites was tabled at a recent politburo meeting and is said to have caused alarm among party members during a heated debate on the media, sources said. Various download print-outs from the websites were distributed at the meeting.

The development comes against the backdrop of Mugabe's outburst in Malaysia on Monday alleging journalists lacked objectivity and were writing "subjective views" in their reports.

Mugabe made the attack on scribes when taking part in the Langkawi International Dialogue aimed at fostering closer ties between Asia and Africa and between governments and business.

"The press and journalists, are they driven by the sense of honesty and objectivity all the time? Or are they swayed from objectivity and truth by certain notions arising from their own subjective views?" said Mugabe.

One of the downloads seen by this paper was extracted from ZimUpdate Forums and shows a reader on the forum giving seven reasons why he thinks Mugabe does not want to step down. "Is it because he is afraid of being hanged just like Saddam (Hussein); or extradited just like Charles Taylor," the reader asks. "Is it because he is afraid that the party will disintegrate? Is it because he is intoxicated with power? It is because he does not trust anyone in Zanu?"

The reader added that Mugabe was afraid of the Americans and British.

Government has been struggling to counter what it terms "negative publicity" by Western media organisations. Among a cocktail of strategies to counter bad publicity from various international media, the state has set up a short-wave propaganda radio station, Voice of Zimbabwe (VOZ) operating from Gweru.

However, the radio project appears to have suffered a stillbirth amid reports of self-jamming as a result of gagging equipment installed to block broadcasts from foreign radio stations such as Voice of America's Studio 7. The project has also been unpopular with state media journalists.

ZBC's Sports FM manager Methuseli Moyo recently left the station after he refused to be deployed to VOZ, saying he was not a propagandist but a journalist. Government has also splurged over US$1 million in an image-making campaign with New African magazine.

Zanu PF secretary for science and technology, Olivia Muchena, presented a report on the role and importance of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on July 26, arguing that the ruling party had no choice but to embrace ICTs to remain "politically relevant". "Comrades, we are all aware that Zanu PF is at war from within and outside our borders," said the report. "Contrary to the gun battles we are accustomed to, we now have cyber-warfares fought from one's comfort zone, be it bedroom, office, swimming pool, etc but with deadly effects."

Muchena said Zanu PF must pause and think who is behind the creation of "these websites", the target market of the websites, the influence and impact they have on Zimbabweans and what the image of Zanu PF and its leadership looks like "out there as portrayed".

Muchena said websites, the Internet and cellphones had become daily weapons used to fight Zanu PF, adding that ICTs were now vogue platforms for high-tech espionage --hardware, software and infrastructure that peddles "virulent propaganda" to delegitimise "our just struggle against Anglo-Saxons".

President Mugabe recently signed into law the Interception of Communications Act which empowers government to snoop on messages transmitted through the telecommunications system, cellphones and the Internet.

Below is the list of the blacklisted websites:

www.zvakwana.org

www.newzimbabwe.com

www.zwnews.com

www.zimvigil.co.uk

www.zimbabwesituation.com

www.zimddays.com

www.allzimbabwe.com

www.crisisgroup.org

www.zimbabwe.8m.com

www.zimbabwedemocracytrust.com

www.zimonline.co.za

www.changezimbabwe.com

www.thezimbabwetimes.com

www.wozazimbabwe.org

www.zimupdate.com

www.zimpundit.blogspot.com

www.thegreatzimbabwe.com

www.zimdaily.com

www.thezimbabwean.co.uk

www.gozimbabwe.com

www.zimobserver.com

www.zimbabwepost.com

www.insiderzimbabwe.com

www.africantears.netfirms.com

www.hrforumzim.com

www.amnesty.ca

www.dfat.gov.au

www.abyznewslinks.com

www.worldpress.org

www.topix.net

www.harareusembassy.gov

www.technorati.com

www.delzwe.ec.europa.eu

www.globalvoiceonline.org

www.usip.org

www.ipsnews.net

www.washingtonpost.com

www.uk.oneworld.net

www.pbs.org

www.msnbc.msn.com

www.cnn.com