Zimbabwe: top Mugabe cronies dumped by state in torture case; told to defend themselves

October 11th, 2009 Nestle probed after Mugabe milk deal soursHARARE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe's central bank chief says the government has frozen Nestle's local accounts and ordered an audit after Nestle stopped buying milk from a farm owned by President Robert Mugabe's wife. Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono told the weekly Zimbabwe Independent newspaper Saturday that two possible "irregular" transactions were found in the company's accounts.

October 6th, 2009 Zimbabwe: Mugabe calls for new links with WestHARARE, Zimbabwe — President Robert Mugabe called Tuesday for a new start to relations with those Western countries he has spent years insulting for their criticism of his leadership. "Our country remains in a positive stance to enter into fresh, friendly and cooperative relations with all those countries that have been hostile to us in the past," he said.

October 5th, 2009 Zimbabwe prime minister awaits official housingHARARE, Zimbabwe — An aide to Zimbabwe's prime minister says President Robert Mugabe is refusing to provide state housing seven months after the appointment. Longtime opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai entered into a unity government with Mugabe in February.

September 11th, 2009 Mugabe lashes out at West on eve of EU visitHARARE, Zimbabwe — Hours before the first EU visit to Zimbabwe in eight years, President Robert Mugabe accused the West on Friday of wanting to recolonize his impoverished African nation. Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since its independence from Britain nearly three decades ago, called Western nations "neocolonialists" who can "never be our friends." "They still want our land," he told the youth wing of his ZANU-PF party.

September 9th, 2009 SADC: Sanctions against Zimbabwe should endKINSHASA, Congo — Southern African leaders are calling for an end to sanctions against Zimbabwe. South African President Jacob Zuma says continuing sanctions will make it difficult for Zimbabwe's power-sharing agreement to be implemented.

August 19th, 2009 Zimbabwe arrests lawmakers in Tsvangirai's partyHARARE, Zimbabwe — A lawyer says 10 Zimbabwean lawmakers from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's party have been arrested and charged with disturbing the peace as they headed into the Finance Ministry for a meeting. Police did not immediately comment.

August 10th, 2009 Zimbabwe's Mugabe: West should 'leave us alone'HARARE, Zimbabwe —President Robert Mugabe said Monday that if the West can't support Zimbabwe's struggling coalition government, it should "leave us alone." Mugabe spoke at the funeral of 85-year-old Vice President Joseph Msika, who served alongside Mugabe for two decades and died last week after suffering from heart disease for many years. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and other top officials in the five-month-old coalition government joined Mugabe and some 20,000 other mourners at Harare's Heroes Acre cemetery.

August 5th, 2009 State radio: Zimbabwe's vice president diesHARARE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwean Vice President Joseph Msika, who served in President Robert Mugabe's government for two decades, died Wednesday at the age of 86, state radio reported. No cause of death was immediately given.

June 20th, 2009 Zimbabwe PM urges diaspora to come homeLONDON — Angry protesters shouted Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai off stage Saturday when he appealed to exiles to return to the battered African nation. Tsvangirai, who reluctantly joined President Robert Mugabe in a power-sharing deal in February, made the appeal to exiles in a London church Saturday but was forced off stage briefly by protesters who want Mugabe to step down after 28 years in power.

June 12th, 2009 Zimbabwe PM seeks US support in meeting with ObamaWASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is scheduled to meet Friday with Zimbabwe's prime minister. Morgan Tsvangirai (SVAHNG'-ur-eye) is in Washington to ask the U.S.

June 10th, 2009 Zimbabwe PM urges US support despite abusesWASHINGTON — Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is urging the United States to support his government despite abuses by his coalition partner, President Robert Mugabe. Tsvangirai plans to make his case Friday in a meeting with U.S.

March 6th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The US plans to keep sanctions in place on Zimbabwe until President Robert Mugabe ends political repression in the troubled African country, the State Department said Thursday. Mugabe must release political prisoners, end violence and intimidation against dissidents, and earnestly commit to share power under the agreement with opposition leaders reached earlier this year, the State Department's acting deputy spokesman, Gordon Duguid, said.

January 25th, 2009 PRETORIA - Police in South Africa fired rubber bullets at hundreds of people protesting outside government buildings over the crisis in neighbouring Zimbabwe, injuring at least one. The protest took place around a kilometre from where Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was meeting with his southern African counterparts and his arch-rival Morgan Tsvangirai over the political impasse in his country.

January 14th, 2009 JOHANNESBURG - Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai Thursday said he planned to return home for a meeting with regional leaders and President Robert Mugabe on the implementation of a unity government. Addressing journalists in South Africa, Tsvangirai said he would leave for Zimbabwe Saturday.

December 28th, 2008 JOHANNESBURG - South Africa has lifted a blockade on aid to Zimbabwe because of the worsening humanitarian crisis in the neighbouring country, a South African presidential spokesman said Monday. South Africa halted aid to Zimbabwe earlier in a bid to build pressure on Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and the opposition to hasten the formation of a national unity government.