Previously published at The Wardman Wire:
The Rwandan parliament now has women in 55% of its seats. Under the Rwandan constitution, 30% of parliamentary seats must go to women and women elected in these reserved seats are not allowed to represent any party. There are also 3 seats in the 80-seat parliament reserved in other ways – 2 for youth representatives and one for a disabled person.
Whilst it is inevitable that this result will be proclaimed as a “breakthrough” for women and as “the way it should be everywhere,” I can’t …

Zimbabwe under Mugabe is thoroughly undemocratic. It has become the worst kind of dictatorship, the kind that doesn’t even bother to hide the disgusting things that it is doing, and just ignores, beats up, or kills anyone who disagrees with it.
Mugabe has destroyed the economy, taking Zimbabwe from the bread-basket of Africa to the basket case of Africa. His claim to power rests not on the ballot box, but through militias on the streets. He fights his opposition not in debates over the facts and over visions for Zimbabwe’s future, …

Kofi Annan calls for Africa to take the lead in condemning Mugabe and dealing with the problem of Zimbabwe. He said:
On the question of Zimbabwe there has been substantial international attention.The question which has been posed is: where are the Africans? Where are their leaders and the countries in the region, what are they doing?It is a rather dangerous situation. It’s a serious crisis with impact beyond Zimbabwe.You’ve just been through a crisis here [in Africa], and you’ve managed to solve it, and I must say the credit goes to …

Zimbabwe appears to be on the brink of finally getting rid of Mugabe and establishing proper democracy. At the very least, Mugabe’s party has lost control of the parliament, but still has 94 of the 210 seats, with the main Opposition party only two ahead on 96. So it is hardly a crushing defeat for him – but a defeat nevertheless.
We can all hope that this result means that the end is nigh for the tyrant Mugabe. We can all hope that Zimbabwe can at last go down a democratic …

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, writes in the Guardian about how “saving Zimbabwe is not colonialism, [but] Britain’s duty”:
In one of his last actions as Prime Minister, Tony Blair visited Africa to defend his ‘thoroughly interventionist’ foreign policy towards the continent. At the end of his trip, at a press conference with South African President Thabo Mbeki, the Prime Minister admitted that when it came to the issue of Zimbabwe, only local pressure would do the job. ‘An African solution,’ he said, ‘is needed to this African problem.’Yet… …

Yes, this isn’t the sort of post that I expected to write either. But for this stand, he deserves it. It’s just a pity about almost everything else he says and does.
Gordon Brown has thrown plans for a summit of African and European leaders into turmoil by vowing to pull out if Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe takes part. The Prime Minister, normally keen to promote Africa, believes that his boycott would be followed by several European allies and is hoping that the threat will stop Mr Mugabe from being invited.But …