UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has named an American diplomat he intends to appoint as new special envoy to mediate in the Western Sahara crisis.
Christopher Ross was once US ambassador to Algeria, which backs Western Sahara independence group the Polisario Front.
Morocco, which controls most of the Western Sahara, has proposed semi-autonomy for the region. But the Polisario Front is asking for a referendum with full independence as one of the options.
A ceasefire has held since 1991, but negotiations have stalled many times since then with little common ground between the opposing sides.
Mr Ross will replace Dutch diplomat Peter van Walsum, who was accused of favouring Morocco after saying independence for Western Sahara was "unrealistic".
BBC NEWS REPORT.
A new international force to combat piracy off the coast of Somalia is being formed and will be headed by an American admiral, the US navy says.
More than 20 nations are expected to contribute to the force, due to be fully operational later in January.
After more than 100 attacks last year, the International Maritime Bureau said increased naval patrols had reduced hijackings in December last year.
The EU formed an anti-piracy task force in December.
Ships from other navies, including Canada, Iran, India and China, have also been patrolling one of the world's busiest sea lanes - the waters of the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean leading to and from the Suez Canal.
US Navy Rear Admiral Terence McKnight has been named the commander of the new force, called Combined Task Force 151 (CTF-151), the US Fifth Fleet said in a statement from its headquarters in Bahrain.
A spokeswoman for the force, Commander Jane Campbell, said the area the pirates operate in is larger than the Mediterranean Sea and the shipping lane the force will patrol is 480 miles (780km) long.
About 60 warships would be required to effectively patrol this sea lane, she said, while about one-third of that number had been committed to the new force.
Cmdr Campbell said merchant vessels could take heightened security measures to thwart pirates, including pulling up ladders they leave hanging from their sterns to allow pilots to come aboard, travelling at high speeds to create a large wake to prevent pirates from boarding, and keeping a sharp watch and maintaining communications with other ships and the new task force.
Despite only two successful hijackings in December, Somali pirates still hold about 15 ships carrying more than 200 crew members.
One of these is the Saudi oil tanker the Sirius Star, captured in November.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
A crackdown has been launched in the Ethiopian capital on unlicensed parlours where boys and young men chew khat, a narcotic green leaf. Addis Ababa city council has ordered raids on the backrooms where people also smoke shisha pipes and gamble. Although khat is not banned, officials say boys skip school and steal to fund their pleasures in the parlours.
Other illegal activities such as trading stolen mobile phones are also reported to take place in khat dens. The mild narcotic - which can cause users to experience excitement, euphoria and loss of appetite - is popular in parts of East Africa, especially Somalia, and Yemen.
During the clampdown in Addis Ababa, where the cheap narcotic has recently become popular with the young jobless, the BBC's Elizabeth Blunt saw shisha pipes being smashed, while playing cards and khat were burned.
Police have been slapping notices on the doors of unlicensed khat parlours, although the leaf is still openly sold on the streets. The police have no way of stopping people sitting by the side of the road and chewing the drug.
Addis Ababa city council's head of justice and legal affairs Tsegaye HaileMariam made it fairly clear to our correspondent that he wished khat was a banned substance in Ethiopia. However, exports of the drug bring in large amounts of foreign currency.
Muslims from the eastern Ethiopian city of Harar and the Somali region to the south-east chew the leaf as part of their culture. In those areas, our correspondent says, the cream of society retires after lunch to rooms elegantly prepared with low couches and cushions to munch khat, drink sweet tea and smoke shisha pipes, while discussing the issues of the day.
She adds MPs, senior officials, security chiefs and university professors have invited her to join them in chewing khat. But the use of the drug is now spreading to new areas of the country.
BBC NEWS REPORTT.
Gay people say conditions are getting worse for them in Senegal
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Nine gay men in Senegal have been sent to jail for "indecent conduct and unnatural acts".
Homosexual acts are illegal in Senegal but lawyers for the men said the sentence was the harshest ever handed down to gay men in the country.
The judge added three years to the maximum five-year sentence after ruling that the men were also members of a criminal organisation.
Most of them belonged to an association set up to fight HIV and Aids.
"This is the first time that the Senegalese legal system has handed down such a harsh sentence against gays," said Issa Diop, one of the men's four defence lawyers.
Mr Diop said he would be appealing against the sentences.
The International and Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) says it is "deeply disturbed" by the case.
"We're actually shocked by the ruling of the court," IGLHRC's Cary Alan Johnson told the BBC's Network Africa programme from Cape Town in South Africa.
"There have been pretty consistent human rights violations… in Senegal," he said.
"But the extremity of this sentence [and] the rapidness of the trial all really shocks us in a country which has been moving so positively towards rule of law and a progressive human rights regime."
The head of a gay rights organisation in Senegal told AFP news agency that the situation for gay people in the country was getting worse.
"Many gays are already fleeing to neighbouring countries because of our living conditions," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Senegal is a predominantly Muslim country and gay men and women remain socially marginalised.
In February 2008, a magazine editor received death threats after publishing pictures claiming to depict a wedding ceremony between two men.
Several men were also arrested in connection with the publication but later released.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
The new military leadership in Guinea has made a series of arrests, including some senior military officers, in the past few days, military sources say. There has been no official statement, but some army officials have said that those detained include the former army chief of staff and a former navy chief. They have also said that several relatives of the late President Lansana Conte are being held.
Capt Moussa Dadis Camara led a military coup after Mr Conte's death last month. He has pledged to hold elections within a year, and to work to stamp out corruption and improve living standards. One of his first acts was to force the retirement of more than 20 top army officers, including former army chief of staff Gen Diarra Camara and former navy chief Admiral Ali Daffe.
The wave of arrests began on Saturday and the detainees are now being held at military headquarters in the capital, Conakry, military sources have said. While some of Guinea's neighbours have signalled their readiness to work with the new rulers, the African Union has suspended Guinea from membership.
The United States has halted most of its monetary aid.
More than a third of the world's bauxite reserves are in Guinea, making it the second-largest producer internationally. It also has large reserves of gold, diamonds, iron and nickel.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
French motorcyclist Pascal Terry has been found dead three days after going missing during the Dakar Rally. The 49-year-old had not been seen since Sunday's stage between Santa Rosa and Puerto Madrid, with the race being held in South America for the first time. However, he was found dead overnight after the fourth stage of the race.
"He was found in a very inaccessible area 15m from his bike," organisers said. "He had taken off his helmet and taken shelter with food and water."
Police were carrying out an investigation to determine the cause of death.
Terry is the first fatal casualty at this year's race which started in Buenos Aires on 3 January and finishes back in the Argentine capital on 17 January. However, the race has already left British driver Paul Green and his navigator Matthew Harrison in a serious condition in hospital after their car overturned during Saturday's stage.
The 30th edition of the rally is being held in Argentina and Chile instead of Africa because of security concerns in Mauritania which forced the cancellation of last year's event.
BBC SPORTS REPORT.
The UN says the number of children going to school has fallen to 20%
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The reopening of schools in Zimbabwe after the Christmas break has been delayed by two weeks.
Education Minister Stephen Mahere said teachers needed to mark last year's exams before the new term can begin.
But many teachers are refusing to return to work until they are assured of being paid in foreign currency as local currency is almost worthless.
Meanwhile, President Robert Mugabe has replaced some acting ministers who lost seats in last March's elections.
According to state media, Mr Mugabe intends to form a new government next month after he returns from a four-week-long holiday.
He has agreed to share power with the opposition but this has not happened.
Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF and Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) have been unable to agree on how to divide cabinet posts. Zimbabwe has been crippled by the stalled power-sharing negotiations, as well as a cholera epidemic which has spread quickly amid the country's economic meltdown, so far killing 1,671 people.
Mr Mahere said schools would open on 27 January, Zimbabwe's Herald newspaper reports. He also urged schools which want to increase their fees to submit their requests as soon as possible. Schools are unable to put up fees without the government's consent.
But inflation in Zimbabwe stands at more than 200m% and most teachers cannot afford to go to work. Students are often required to make payments in kind, including food.
In November, the UN said the number of children going to school regularly in Zimbabwe had fallen dramatically from 90% to 20%.
Zimbabwe used to have one of the best education systems in Africa.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
There is confusion in Kenya over how to deal with bodies piled in the town of Eldoret's morgue for more than a year. The deceased had died in a church burnt down during ethnic violence after elections in December 2007. Thirty-seven bodies were to have been buried on Wednesday but after the first 10 were interred they had to be dug up and returned to the morgue.
Families had protested to the district administrator that they wanted their relatives buried on ancestral lands. Up to 10,000 people remain in Eldoret, fearing attacks from local people if they go home.
The deceased at the centre of the dispute were burned to death in a church in Eldoret, after seeking refuge from the mounting violence in the wake of the polls.
A mob set fire to the place of worship where many people from President Mwai Kibaki's Kikuyu ethnic group were sheltering.
Eldoret, in the Rift Valley, was hardest hit by the clashes following the disputed presidential election.
Meanwhile, Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga is holding crisis talks this week with members of his party amid complaints they are being sidelined by the president.
The row has triggered fears political bickering could erupt afresh and damage a power-sharing government that is not yet one year old.
President Kibaki has been accused of failing to consult his premier about decisions on electoral reform, a controversial media law and new ambassadors.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
John Atta Mills has pledged to be a "president for all" Ghana's President-elect, John Atta Mills, is to be sworn in after his cliff-hanger election victory.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate beat the ruling party's Nana Akufo-Addo in a hotly contested poll by a margin of less than 0.5% of votes.
The incoming leader's centre-right NDC has a slim parliamentary majority of 114 out of 230 seats, over the New Patriotic Party's (NPP) 107.
President John Kufuor is standing down after serving the maximum two terms. President Kufuor gave his successor a tour of the presidential residence On the eve of the inauguration, President Kufuor showed his successor around his new home, the presidential residence officially known as Jubilee House. Ghana's incoming leader, who had lost two previous elections to Mr Kufuor, has pledged to be "a president for all".
Mr Akufo-Addo won the first round but not by enough to avoid an inconclusive run-off in last month's knife-edge polls. Mr Atta Mills was finally declared the winner on Saturday after a re-run of voting in the rural constituency of Tain, which was boycotted by the NPP.
Despite allegations of multiple voting and intimidation from both sides, electoral officials found no evidence of foul play and monitors praised Ghana's poll as a democratic example to others. The stakes were raised further in the election by Ghana's recent discovery of crude oil, with production due to start in late 2010.Turnout was high for Ghana's fifth set of polls since it embraced multi-party democracy in 1992.
The former British colony was the first African state to gain its independence in 1957. A nation of 22 million people, it is the world's second biggest cocoa grower and Africa's number two gold miner.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
By Patrick Smith
Editor, Africa Confidential
After Ghana's cliff-hanger presidential vote, Africa's election watchers will quickly shift their attention to southern Africa where Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa will all go to the polls in 2009.
The economic and political meltdown in Zimbabwe will dominate regional concerns, while the West's credit crunch will start hitting all developing economies.
MAIN PREDICTIONS
Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe to step down
But one of his allies to succeed him
Jacob Zuma to be South Africa's next president
But the ANC to lose ground
ICC to issue arrest warrant for Sudan's President Bashir
The African National Congress's canny leader Jacob Zuma, the likely winner of South Africa's general elections due between March and June, has won new friends with his condemnation of developments in Zimbabwe and has raised the prospect of a tougher South African stance there.
Call for action against Robert Mugabe's regime in Zimbabwe from South Africa's churchmen such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu and politicians such as Botwana's President Ian Khama and Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga will add to the bad news for Harare.
Voters in Southern Africa are facing the regional consequences of continuing political violence in Zimbabwe, millions of migrants, worsening cholera, malnutrition and the prospect of another disastrous harvest there
As Mr Mugabe's regional status slips further, the top echelon of the ruling Zanu-PF will finally find a way to make him stand down to save their own political future.
But Mr Mugabe will leave power waving a defiant fist at his opponents, having secured some legal guarantees and leaving some reliable comrades in place.
Will the army turn on Robert Mugabe? And he will remind everyone that he has outlasted his long-time foes - the UK's Tony Blair and George Bush in the US.
Beyond Zimbabwe, South Africa will face a mould-breaking election, following the exit of Mosioua Lekota and Mbhazima Shilowa from the ANC to lead the breakaway Congress of the People (Cope).
Formed after the ANC's national executive sacked Thabo Mbeki from the presidency last September, Cope has attracted tens of thousands of grassroots dissidents from the ANC, even if it is rather thin on political stars.
So far Mr Mbeki has stayed aloof from the battle between Cope and the ANC, now dominated by allies of his erstwhile rival Mr Zuma.
The ANC will remain the dominant party after this year's legislative and presidential elections but it will sustain some collateral damage.
Cope hopes to gain control of key provinces such as Gauteng, Eastern Cape and Western Cape and stop the ANC from winning a two-thirds majority in parliament.
Mr Zuma's opponents will press for his trial on corruption charges linked to South Africa's $6bn arms deal. His highly paid and effective lawyers will demand that the case be thrown out.
Expect the costly legal tangle to rumble on: few powerful people in South Africa nor in the big arms companies in Britain, France, Germany or Sweden have any interest in an independent probe into this murky affair.
Election campaigners across Africa will study the implications of the opposition National Democratic Congress's narrow victory in Ghana's tight presidential and parliamentary elections.
Will the NDC victory herald change across Africa?
The NDC fought a low-cost, people-centred campaign whereas the incumbent New Patriotic Party lavished funds on campaign billboards and sophisticated television adverts.
But finally, it was rocketing food and fuel prices that scuppered the incumbent party's chances in Ghana.
The political and social effects of the global slowdown - job losses and falling commodity prices - will haunt Africa in 2009.
Finance ministers in Africa's oil-rich economies in Angola, Libya and Nigeria are quickly rewriting budgets as demand falls for their exports.
Even China's and India's enthusiasm and capital for African ventures are faltering.
Elections are also due in Algeria, Comoros, Congo-Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea, Niger, Sudan and Tunisia.
The incumbent presidents Abdelaziz Bouteflika in Algiers, Jose Eduardo dos Santos in Luanda, Teodoro Obiang Nguema in Malabo and Zine el Abidine Ben Ali in Tunis are unlikely to face serious electoral challenges.
Elsewhere, the voting will be more energetic and less predictable.
Looming over Sudan's planned elections is the likelihood that early in the year the International Criminal Court in the Hague will issue an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes in Darfur.
President Bashir will not give up without a bitter fight, Khartoum will threaten further obstruction of the UN and African Union peacekeeping missions but many in Darfur will quietly cheer the ICC.
Sudanese refugee
The horrors in Sudan have continued despite an international outcry
Prospects for serious negotiations in Darfur look poor.
More threatening still, there are signs that the tenuous peace deal between Khartoum and the Sudan People's Liberation Army could also break apart, starting with renewed fighting over the oil-rich Abyei area.
Compared to Sudan, Somalia's wars have been almost ignored by campaigners.
This year Mogadishu faces an even deadlier battle for power following the collapse of President Abdullahi Yusuf's transitional regime and the exit of his Ethiopian protectors.
The would-be beneficiaries of this - the Islamist fighters of the al-Shabab group - will face stern resistance from local clan-backed rivals.
In the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the flurry of diplomacy last year, a damning report on the governments of Kinshasa and Kigali and promises of more peacekeepers have not changed the dynamics of the conflict.
Displaced Congolese wait for food aid handouts
The refugees in eastern DR Congo are unlikely to enjoy a happy new year
The worsening crises in DR Congo, Somalia and Sudan will top the agenda of the presidents meeting at the African Union summit in Ethiopia in late January.
The bright spot for many will be in the United States with the inauguration on 20 January of President Barack Obama, whose Kenyan roots are a source of continental pride.
Politicians such as Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga have already pointed to the economic constraints which the Obama administration will face.
But they say, at least, there will be a US president who knows the real Africa and takes the continent seriously.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Green and Harrison at the start of the race on Friday
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British driver Paul Green and his co-driver Matthew Harrison both remain in a serious condition in hospital after an accident in the Dakar Rally.
The Team Desert Xarrior duo were hurt in Saturday's first stage when their Rally Raid UK car flipped over in Trenque Lauquen in Argentina.
Green suffered a heavy blow to the thorax and the spinal column while Harrison also suffered a thorax injury.
Security fears mean the race has moved from Africa to Argentina and Chile.
Juan Enemeterio, chief doctor of the Hospital Modelo of Santa Rosa's intensive care unit, said about Green: "There are hopes of recovery, but we'll wait 24 hours to see whether he can be moved to Buenos Aires. He is connected to a respirator, and his condition is serious."
Harrison remains in an induced coma but it is expected that both men will be brought out of their comas on Thursday.
The race features 540 competitors from 50 countries and covers 9,000km spread over 13 stages - three in Chile and 10 in Argentina - with the finish scheduled for Buenos Aires on 18 January.
BBC SPORTS REPORT.
Posted by: Mara at January 06, 2009 18:53 |
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"YOU CAN'T DIRECT THE WIND,
BUT YOU CAN ADJUST YOUR SAILS" !
__________
Pirates have seized a ship owned by a French company off the Nigerian coast, taking nine crew members hostage.
The company - Bourbon - said the captain had assured them that all crew members were unharmed.
Bourbon - which provides specialist boats for the oil and gas industry - said it was working to free the crew.
The hostages are from Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Indonesia. Piracy is common in Nigerian waters, often linked to militants targeting oil companies.
Militants attack vessels and strip them of valuables, taking hostages for ransom.
The hostages are usually released later.
The Bourbon boat had left Bonny Island in the Niger Delta and was off the coast of Akwa-Ibom State when it was attacked.
map
Militants are holding two British hostages taken from another oil services vessel in September last year.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) say they will only be released if one of their leaders, currently on trial, is freed.
Militants say they are fighting for a bigger share of the country's oil wealth, but many attacks are carried out by criminal gangs looking to extort money from oil companies, the government says.
Nigeria's oil production has been cut by around a fifth since 2006, partly as a result of the violence.
Boats in waters of neighbouring Cameroon have also been attacked.
The weekend attack comes as pirate hijackings increase, particularly in the waters off the coast of Somalia.
A French navy vessel captured 19 suspected pirates and foiled two attacks on Sunday targeting cargo ships in the Gulf of Aden.
In 2008, pirates attacked 111 ships off Somalia, hijacking 42 of them, and receiving tens of millions of dollars in ransoms.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Posted by: Mara at January 06, 2009 17:25 |
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The authorities in Angola say they have closed part of the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo to prevent the spread of the deadly Ebola virus.
Angolan officials said all movement of people from northern Luande Norte province to DR Congo would be stopped.
The outbreak in DR Congo was the first in Africa in several months and the fourth in DR Congo since 1976. It is believed to have infected at least 40 people of which more than ten have died.
"We are suspending all movement of people and trade with the DRC in the province of Lunda Norte", said Angolan Health Minister Jose Van Dunem.
Reuters news agency reported Mr Van Dunem as saying that no cases of Ebola had been diagnosed in Angola so far but that the Angolan military and police were on the alert for signs of the virus in the north-east border region.
Ebola is a highly infectious fever which causes vomiting, diarrhoea, and internal and external bleeding.
The disease kills 80% of those it infects and there is no known cure.
BBC NEWS REPORT
South Africa's ruling African National Congress says there is "nothing sinister" in its leader Jacob Zuma wishing to take a third wife.
Local media have reported that his fiancee, Thobeka Mabhija, has made a traditional gift to his family, as part of the wedding preparations.
Mr Zuma married his second wife in January last year.
He is the strong favourite to become South Africa's next president, after elections due in the coming months.
Correspondents say it is common for leaders in Mr Zuma's Zulu community to have more than one wife.
After initially denying the reports of a new wedding, the ANC on Tuesday issued a new statement which reads: "We see nothing sinister in Comrade Zuma wishing to enter into matrimony in line with African customary and traditional practice."
MRS JACOB ZUMA
Thobeka Mabhija - fiancee
Nompumelelo Ntuli - married, January 2008
Sizakele Khumalo - married, 1959
Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma - divorced, 1998
Kate Mantsho Zuma - died, 2000
The statement also stresses that it is a private matter.
The Mercury newspaper reports that the family of Ms Mabhija, 34, delivered gifts including a goat, sheep and vegetables to Mr Zuma's family home, as part of the Zulu umbondo tradition ahead of a wedding.
This will be the fifth time Mr Zuma, 65, has been married.
He wed Nompumelelo Ntuli a year ago and has been married to Sizakele Khumalo since 1959.
He is divorced from Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, while Kate Mantsho Zuma died in 2000.
Mr Zuma was acquitted of rape in 2006 and still faces corruption charges.
His supporters say his legal problems are part of a political plot to prevent him becoming president.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Posted by: Mara at January 06, 2009 17:01 |
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africa
Fans waving South African flags
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A South African official who blew the whistle on alleged corruption in the building of a stadium for the 2010 World Cup has been shot dead by unknown gunmen.
Jimmy Mohlala, a member of the local organising committee for the World Cup, was shot dead late Sunday at his home in the northeastern city of Nelspruit, the Mbombela Local Council Municipality said in the statement.
"He was shot by two unknown men who were wearing balaclaves...the gunmen had been lying in wait outside the Mohlala home in an unmarked vehicle," it said.
His son, who was with him, was also shot and wounded by the assailants who later fled the scene, the statement said.
Mohlala was a former vice president of the South African Football Association and headed the local council of Mbombela, where the stadium is being built in Nelspruit for the games.
He made headlines a year ago with reports that some members of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) wanted him sacked for allegedly turning in a colleague over graft claims in the construction of the Mbombela stadium.
His claims sparked an investigation into a range of allegations, including the manipulation of tenders in 2010 construction contracts, SAPA news agency said.
The 46,000-capacity Mbombela stadium, scheduled for completion this year, is one of 10 venues for the 2010 World Cup.
His death is a "huge setback" for organising the event in Nelspruit, the head of South Africa's organising committee, Danny Jordaan, said in a statement.
BBC SPORTS REPORT.
THE DAKAR IS OFF AND RUNNING IN SOUTH AMERICA !
The three were trying to travel without passports or money
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Two German children - aged five and six - have been stopped by police from eloping to Africa to tie the knot in the sun, reports say.
The budding lovebirds, identified as Mika and Anna-Lena, packed bathing costumes, sunglasses and a lilo and headed for the airport.
They even had the presence of mind to invite along an official witness - Anna-Lena's seven-year-old sister.
The three got as far as Hanover railway station before police intervened.
The young couple were "very much in love" and had decided to get married in Africa "where it is warm", police spokesman Holger Jureczko told the AFP news agency.
The idea for the getaway wedding was born as the children's families celebrated New Year's eve together and Mika regaled the two girls with stories of a recent holiday to Italy.
The following morning, as their parents slept, the intrepid trio walked 1km (0.6 miles) to the local tram station at Langenhagen, where they hopped aboard a tram for Hanover central station.
But the group aroused the suspicion of a guard as they waited for a train to the airport, and police were called in.
Officers persuaded the children they would not get far without tickets and money, but consoled them with a free tour of the police station, where they were shortly picked up by relieved parents.
Although any marriage plans have been put on hold for now, police did not altogether rule out the possibility of an African wedding.
"They can still put their plan into action at a later date," AFP quoted the spokesman as saying.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Posted by: Mara at January 05, 2009 16:32 |
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africa
Robert Mugabe usually spends his holiday in the Far East
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Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe will probably form a new government next month after he returns from a month-long holiday, according to state media.
Mr Mugabe usually spends his leave in the Far East, but he would only spend a small part of his vacation outside Zimbabwe this year, his spokesman said.
Mr Mugabe last week sacked nine ministers and three deputy ministers who lost seats in last March's polls.
He has agreed to share power with the opposition but this has not happened.
Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF and Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) have been unable to agree on how to divide cabinet posts.
"A government was most likely to be in place by the end of February," said the Herald, widely seen as a government mouthpiece.
The delay would include time for parliament to approve a constitutional amendment to implement the power-sharing deal, as well as for the 84-year-old's holiday, it added.
Morgan Tsvangirai is said to be in South Africa this week
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Presidential spokesman George Charamba said Mr Mugabe would continue to work a proposals for a ministerial list during his leave.
An unnamed source told the paper: "The president has had enough of games from the opposition."
Mr Tsvangirai refuses to take the post of prime minister unless the MDC is given the post of home affairs minister, which controls the police.
He, along with western nations, accuses Mr Mugabe of not being sincere about power-sharing, pointing to continued abductions of opposition officials and human rights activists, as well as the impasse over ministerial posts.
The Herald added that Mr Mugabe on Saturday met Arthur Mutambara, who leads a breakaway faction of the MDC, but the newspaper did not give details of their talks.
Meanwhile Mr Tsvangirai, who left Zimbabwe on 9 November, is in South Africa this week on a "diplomatic mission", according to MDC officials.
He was given a passport on Christmas Day, after complaining for many months that officials were refusing to give him travel documents.
Under the power-sharing deal, Mr Mugabe is supposed to remain president and Mr Tsvangirai become prime minister.
The MDC leader narrowly won the first round of presidential elections last March but refused to take part in a June run-off, accusing Zanu-PF of orchestrating violence against his supporters.
UN figures on Sunday said 1,671 people have now died in an outbreak of cholera blamed on the collapse of Zimbabwe's sanitation system and a lack of clean water.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
"DO NOT WAIT FOR LEADERS;
DO IT ALONE.
PERSON TO PERSON" !
__________
