He calls the ousted Zimbabwe president a classical example of  a liberator who betrayed the values of the struggle he championed.

Lord Hain says he does not feel grief about Robert Mugabe’s death in Singapore at the age of 95.

“I can’t say that I’m sorry because he betrayed every one of those values of the freedom struggle of democracy, human rights and social justice and came to preside over a corrupt regime,” he said.

He recalls how during meeting in London in 1999, Mugabe patted him on the knee and called him “one of us” for his anti-apartheid activism.

The following day he viscously attacked then then British Minister blaming him for a gay rights activist making a citizen’s arrest on Mugabe for his notorious homophobia.

Lord Hain went on to advocate sanctions against Mugabe for his human rights abuses.

The post Lord Peter Hain says history will judge Robert Mugabe harshly appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

The move by President Donald Trump is a setback for efforts by President Cyril Ramaphosa and the regional grouping SADC to lift the punitive measures they say are hamstringing Zimbabwe’s economic recovery.

Washington says Zimbabwe continues to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to U.S. foreign policy.

So the sanctions imposed 15 years ago on more than 100 individuals and instances for human rights abuses are extended for another year.

Ridiculous, counters President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who is among those personally targeted by the sanctions.

Zimbabwe has no history of aggression.

He had expected his re-engagement with the West and other warm gestures from Harare, to be reciprocated.

The post Mnangagwa deplores extension of US sanctions against Zimbabwe appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

A resolution drafted by Britain and France expanding the EU mission rescuing migrants crossing the Mediterranean has been unanimously adopted by the UN powerhouse.

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Russia and China have supported the measure in terms of the enforce a 12-month mandate to inspect vessels bound to, or from Libya they suspect  are carrying arms.

French Ambassador Francois Delattre says cutting the arms flow to and from Libya will be a game-changer.

Amnesty International says it fears that closer cooperation with the Libyan government risks fuelling the rampant ill-treatment and indefinite detention in horrifying conditions of thousands of refugees and migrants.

The post UN Security Council empowers EU to enforce Libyan arms embargo appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

President Omar al-Bashir has five more years to face major challenges in solving Sudan’s economic woes and ending its international isolation.

He’s wanted by the International Criminal Court over war crimes in the western region of Darfur. This curtails his ability to travel abroad freely.

Sudan remains subject to a US trade embargo for hosting late Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in the 1990s and for rights abuses.

Bashir has to win over the international community with a long-promised national dialogue with the opposition and with new foreign alliances.

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