IRIN

HARARE, 11 February 2009 (IRIN) - As Morgan Tsvangirai was being sworn in on 11 February as Zimbabwe’s new prime minister, a group of 30 human rights activists, members of his own party, and journalists remain in detention.

The government claims they were involved in military training in neighbouring Botswana to topple President Robert Mugabe, but the authorities in Botswana and the detainees have denied the allegations.

Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic ...

JOHANNESBURG, 4 February 2009 (IRIN) - The former captain of the Rhodesian rugby side and an alleged "sanction-buster" for Ian Smith's white minority government in what is now Zimbabwe, as well as a South African-born businessman wanted in his home country for fraud, are some of the latest additions to the European Union's (EU) sanctions targeting Zimbabwe's ruling elite.

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HARARE, 5 February 2009 (IRIN) - As the gap between the fierce political rivalries of Zimbabwe's ZANU-PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) narrows, there are fears that the independent media will be squeezed even more.

In the past decade, while Zimbabwe lurched from one political crisis to another and the economy went into freefall, the independent media were lambasted by President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF government for their often critical views, and subjected ...

MAPUTO, 5 February 2009 (IRIN) - Opening day at Escola Communitaria 4 de Outobro in the Mozambican Capital, Maputo, is an anxious occasion as parents worry about their children's admission if they cannot pay the fees.

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JOHANNESBURG, 5 February 2009 (IRIN) - Efforts to tackle joblessness among young people in South Africa, which has one of the world's highest youth unemployment rates, need to be scaled up, particularly as the economy slows down, according to policy analysts.

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