Rodney Muhumuza
12 June 2008
Kampala — Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe must quit the presidency if he loses to opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in the run-off election, President Yoweri Museveni said yesterday.
"If he loses elections he must go. How can you stay without winning elections? It's impossible," Mr Museveni told the BBC's Network Africa programme, arguing that it is important for Mr Mugabe to have "the permission of the population" if he's to stay at the helm.
Asked if the conditions in Zimbabwe are conducive for a free and fair election, Mr Museveni said: "Not at all."
It was the first time that Mr Museveni has spoken out in terms not exactly sympathetic to the Zimbabwean leader, who has ruled the southern African nation since independence in 1980. Both presidents are former Marxists, and it is said that Mr Museveni has a lot of admiration for Mr Mugabe.
Mr Museveni, who came to power in 1986 after an armed struggle, has sometimes been compared to Mr Mugabe, who is accused of using his security agencies to cling to power. Both men, lauded for their early efforts to uplift their countries, are increasingly criticised for their reluctance to leave power.
And both tend to find scapegoats, especially colonialism, to explain their internal problems.
Mr Museveni's remark that Mr Mugabe should quit if he loses the popular vote is clearly at odds with what he has said or done to stay in power.
In 2006, as FDC leader Kizza Besigye energised the electorate to present himself as a formidable challenger, Mr Museveni reportedly said "revolutionaries do not leave like chicken thieves."
The remark was understood to mean that he would not leave power in the event that he lost the popular vote. Mr Museveni's public comments since then suggest that he will seek re-election when his current term expires in 2011.
In the BBC interview, he was measured in his criticism of the Zimbabwean leader, insisting that Mr Mugabe should not just give up power because he has held it for long. "As long as the people are elected, I don't really think the issue of who leads is crucial," Mr Museveni said.
He also refused to blame the economic crisis entirely on Mr Mugabe, saying there are "many players" responsible for the country's economic crisis. "It's not just Mugabe; it is Mugabe plus [some other players]," Mr Museveni told interviewer Kirsty Wark.
Mr Museveni, who was in London to attend a Commonwealth meeting, also speculated on why Mr Mugabe may have moved to implement his controversial land reform policy that alienated many white landowners and put him on a collision course with the West.
Zimbabweans vote in a run-off election that could end Mr Mugabe's rule or bring Mr Tsvangirai to power.
But human rights groups now say that there is no chance that the elections will be free and fair.
The US-based Human Rights Watch said in a new report that there isn't any chance of a free and fair presidential election in Zimbabwe.
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M-7 is the 21st century puppet who does not have any moral standing to critiz Mugabe on overstaying in power. The only difference between him and Mugabe is that he can do whatever he can to stay in power but no Western press is after him because he works for them. Mugabe on the contrary is working for his people but found himself in this situation. There is more democracy in Zimbabwe than in Uganda.
M-7 is the 21st century puppet who does not have any moral standing to critiz Mugabe on overstaying in power. The only difference between him and Mugabe is that he can do whatever he can to stay in power but no Western press is after him because he works for them. Mugabe on the contrary is working for his people but found himself in this situation. There is more democracy in Zimbabwe than in Uganda.
The Musevenis and the Mugabes of Africa have turned out to be a disgrace; Africa deserves better. Besides after sitting in power, literary unchallenged, for decades these half-baked formerly marxist revolutionaries have little - except they and their cronies are richer - to show for all the sacrifices they put their fellow country men and women through . There is less democracy; more repression; failed economies; rampant and cancerous corrutption eating at the very core of government stewardship. If this is the best Africa has to offer and insist on offering then there is no hope for Africa. Twenty or so years is more than enough to put up with this tired, mindless and uninspired leadership. For Museveni and Mugabe to blame "other players" for their failed economies and government is the lamest excuse even a six year old couldn muster. You would think that is precisely what revolutions are for - to overcome the "other players" challenge. But of course if you are now sitting at the Queens right hand what revolutionary were/are you really ? These types African leaders are a fraud.
http://deltafarmpress.com/ Since the 1950s, resistance genes bred into wheat varieties have held truly devastating stem rust epidemics in check. However, a new race of the rust, Ug99, has overcome many of those resistance genes and is marching east through southern Asia. Ug99 first appeared in Uganda wheat in 1999 and spread to Kenya and Ethiopia during the next few years. “At that point, many international scientists said, ‘This is something we need to check because this new race can overcome many of the effective resistances,’” said David Marshall, research leader with the USDA-ARS in North Carolina last spring. “And that included the resistances that are in the international germ plasm out of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center near Mexico City. That’s alarming and this rust has become a front-burner issue.” The spread of Ug99 through east Africa “raised a red flag and the USDA, in cooperation with CIMMYT and other international breeding centers, set up a program to identify germ plasm worldwide, based on how it fares — resistant, intermediate, or susceptible — with the new rust race,” said Marshall. That research, done in large part with the Global Rust Initiative (see http://www.globalrust.org/), continues to move forward. Unfortunately, so does Ug99. By last year, the rust had leapt from Africa into Yemen. Now confirmed in Iran, wind patterns suggest Ug99 could have also reached the northern Middle East, Afghanistan, India and Pakistan. Some 20 percent of the world’s wheat is grown in India and Pakistan. “One of the interesting factors that Iran has introduced to the situation is barbary bushes, an alternate host for the stem rust fungus,” says Gene Milus, University of Arkansas professor and wheat pathologist. “That means Ug99 will likely hybridize with the stem rust isolates that are native to Iran.” The result: isolates coming out of Iran will probably be different than the Ug99 that went into the country. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121305642257659301.html?mod=googlenews_wsj Why Is Bush Helping Saudi Arabia Build Nukes? Last month, while the American people were becoming the personal ATMs of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was in Saudi Arabia signing away an even more valuable gift: nuclear technology. In a ceremony little-noticed in this country, Ms. Rice volunteered the U.S. to assist Saudi Arabia in developing nuclear reactors, training nuclear engineers, and constructing nuclear infrastructure. While oil breaks records at $130 per barrel or more, the American consumer is footing the bill for Saudi Arabia's nuclear ambitions. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=66815 LONDON -- British intelligence agents working for MI6 in Africa have established that President Robert Mugabe's top generals, who control Zimbabwe's Joint Operations Command, have met with two extremist terror groups linked to al-Qaida about plans for an "Islamic empire" in southern Africa in which Zimbabwe would play a crucial role, according to a report in Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.