"SAYINGS" !
"OUR DEEDS DETERMINE US,
AS MUCH AS WE DETERMINE OUR DEEDS" !
Posted by: Mara at September 30, 2007 15:25 |
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sayings
ZIMBABWE MDC SETS POLL CONDITIONS !
Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has said participation in polls next year depends on the outcome of negotiations with the government. Mr Tsvangirai leads one faction of the Movement for Democratic Change.
Recent elections in Zimbabwe have been marked by violence. The MDC split after a disagreement over whether to take part in the 2005 senate election. Mr Tsvangirai said the president must end political repression and allow millions of exiles to vote. "Those are our benchmarks for a free and fair election. We will not expect anything less in these elections," Mr Tsvangirai said at a rally held to mark the eighth anniversary of the MDC, in the southern Zimbabwean city of Masvingo. "We want to participate, but we do not want a pre-determined election," Mr Tsvangirai said.
South African President Thabo Mbeki has been mediating in talks in South Africa between the MDC and the Zimbabwe government. Mr Tsvangirai decided not to participate in elections for the senate in 2005, arguing that participation would only serve to give legitimacy to a system stacked in favour of the governing Zanu-PF party.
This caused a split in the party, with Arthur Mutambara later emerging as the leader of a faction that supported participation in the senate elections as a way of challenging the government.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
DARFUR ATTACK KILLS PEACEKEEPERS !
An attack on an African Union army base in the Sudanese region of Darfur has killed at least 12 peacekeepers. Sources in the region told the BBC that 2,000 rebels had overrun the base. Fifty AU soldiers are still missing. The casualties were the most serious losses suffered by the AU mission since it arrived in 2003, a spokesman said.
The attackers made off with all the weapons and vehicles they were able to take, and burned the vehicles that remained, the sources told the BBC. They said the rebels were under pressure from government forces in the area. The sources did not say which of the dozen rebel groups that operate in Darfur carried out the overnight attack on the base in Haskanita town.
The AU, for its part, did not make clear whether it thought government troops or rebels were responsible. It confirmed the base had come under an intensive attack, but said the exact number of casualties on both sides was still unclear.
About 7,000 African Union troops are deployed in Darfur on a limited mandate. The UN Security Council has approved a 26,000-strong peacekeeping force to expand the current AU force, which has been struggling to protect civilians.
The attack came as South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu was expected in Sudan, in the latest initiative to bring peace to Darfur. The archbishop is leading a delegation that includes former UN special envoy to Iraq, Lakhdar Brahimi, US ex-President Jimmy Carter, and Graca Machel, a children's rights advocate and the wife of Nelson Mandela.
The group of retired elder statesmen came together at Mr Mandela's invitation to find ways to tackle some of the world's toughest problems, such as HIV-Aids, poverty and conflict. The BBC's Amber Henshaw in Khartoum says it is no coincidence that Darfur is the focus of the group's first mission. At least 200,000 people have died and some 2m have been forced from their homes during the four-year conflict.
The delegation will meet President Omar al-Bashir and others in Khartoum before travelling to Juba, capital of southern Sudan. They will then travel to Darfur where they will meet community leaders and displaced people living in camps.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
UGANDA DENIES MUGABE INVITATION !
Uganda has moved to crush speculation that it might invite Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to a Commonwealth leaders' meeting. A Ugandan foreign ministry statement said the matter did not arise because Zimbabwe left the Commonwealth in 2003.
Zimbabwe's Commonwealth membership was suspended after the controversial 2002 elections, and Zimbabwe withdrew voluntarily the following year. Several Commonwealth member states in Africa oppose isolating Zimbabwe.
Uganda is to host the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) in November. The ministry statement said any application for readmission by Zimbabwe could only be considered in 2009. "It was, therefore, not possible for Uganda and the Commonwealth Secretariat to invite President Mugabe for Chogm 2007. "In the event that Zimbabwe wishes to reapply for admission, the application would be considered by Chogm 2009 in Trinidad and Tobago," the statement said.
Earlier this month, United Kingdom Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he would not attend a summit of European and African leaders in Portugal if President Mugabe was invited. Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa said in response that he would stay away from the summit if Mr Mugabe were not invited. Gertrude Mongella, the Tanzanian president of the Pan-African Parliament, said Mr Brown's threat would not help Zimbabwe.
South Africa, Zimbabwe's influential neighbour, has consistently rejected suggestions of punitive measures against Mr Mugabe's government.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
BORO NEED TO "GROW UP" !
Yakubu became Everton's record transfer, costing £11.25m. Everton striker Ayigbeni Yakubu has told former club Middlesbrough they need to "grow up" ahead of the clubs' Premier League clash on Sunday. The Nigerian striker moved to the Liverpool-based side from Teesside in the close season for a fee of £11.25m.
In the wake of the move Boro chairman Steve Gibson said the 24-year-old had "switched off" during last season. Yakubu, though, retorted: "It is unfair to say that, I played for Middlesbrough for two years and scored many goals." "It is ridiculous for them to say that I switched off.
"Before the season started they were saying they did not want to sell me and that they were happy with me," Yakubu added. "But at the end of the transfer window they decided to sell me and I wanted to leave anyway. "I don't have anything against the chairman or the club and so I was very disappointed for him to say things like that. "I was not happy and I wanted to join a club with more ambition than Middlesbrough.
"They never said I switched off when I left Portsmouth, they all loved me and I would never say anything abusive about Portsmouth. "So for Middlesbrough to come out and say things like that in the newspaper is not good, you don't do that. "I think they have to grow up."
BBC SPORTS REPORT.
Cathy Buckle's Weekly Letter from Zimbabwe!
What a way to live.
Saturday 29th September 2007.
Dear Family and Friends,
Standing outside over yet another smoky fire late one afternoon this week, a Go-Away bird chastised me from a nearby tree. I'm sure this Grey Lourie is as fed up of me intruding into its territory as I am of being there - trying to get a hot meal for supper. For five of the last six days the electricity has gone off before 5 in the morning and only come back 16 or 17 hours later a little before midnight. "Go Away! Go Away!" the Grey Lourie called out repeatedly as my eyes streamed from the smoke and I stirred my little pot. My hair and clothes stink of smoke, fingers are yellow and sooty but this is what we've all been reduced to in Zimbabwe. Our government don't talk about the power cuts anymore and don't even try and feed us with lame excuses about how the power is being used to irrigate non-existent crops. We all know it's not true and the proof is there in the empty fields for all to see.
Something else our government aren't talking about anymore is the nationwide non availability of bread and the empty shops in all our towns and cities. Everywhere you go people are struggling almost beyond description to try and survive and yet the country's MP's, both from the ruling party and the opposition, do nothing to put an end to this time of horror. I have lost count of how many weeks this has been going on for but it must be around three months. None of the basics needed for daily survival are available to buy. There is no flour to bake with, no pasta, rice, lentils, dried beans or canned goods. People everywhere are hungry, not for luxuries like biscuits or snack food but for the staples that fill your stomach. When you ask people nowadays how they are coping, mostly they say that they are not, they say they are hungry, tired and have little energy. This is a national crisis almost beyond description and people say they are alive only because of " the hand of God."
This week as Monks and then ordinary people in Burma took to the streets in their thousands calling out 'Democracy, Democracy' in the face of the police and soldiers, we can't help but wonder why something similar does not happen here. The chant could be shorter and even simpler than in Burma and it could just be: 'Food, food,' but without leadership it seems as elusive as ever.
I end with a story about a man who is epileptic and visited the local government hospital for his regular check-up this week. It took four hours before he was seen by a nurse who scribbled in his book that this was a known case and that the hospital pharmacy should dispense his prescription of 90 phenobarb tablets at no charge - as they usually do. This major provincial government hospital had no phenobarb however so the man went to the biggest and busiest pharmacy in the town. They said the phenobarb would cost 1.2 million dollars - this is ten times more than the man's government stipulated minimum monthly wage. I offered to help and took the prescription to another pharmacy. The exact same tablets cost 250 thousand dollars - nearly five times cheaper. When I gave them to the man, his eyes shone with tears and he thanked me - 'I thought I would have to die' he said. What a way to live, and to die.
Until next week, thanks for reading,
love cathy.
NIGERIA ARRESTS FOREIGN 'SPIES' !
A well-known US aid worker and her two German companions have been arrested in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta region.Security officials say Judith Burdin Asuni, Florian Alexander Opitz and Andy Lehmann are being held on suspicion of "espionage and terrorism". The Germans had been filming masked youths from the Ijaw community in Delta State, allegedly without clearance.
Delta militants have been conducting a violent campaign for the oil-rich area to get a larger share of the oil money. The BBC's Alex Last in Lagos says the two German nationals had come to Nigeria to do a preliminary research for a possible TV documentary about the Niger Delta. Our correspondent says the Niger Delta is a sore subject for the Nigerian authorities, particularly the international attention given to militant groups.
The US embassy in Abuja told the BBC that it was in touch with the Nigerian government over the continued detention of Mrs Asuni, who is married to a Nigerian and has lived in the region for 36 years. "All we know is that Judith Asuni is a peace worker who got funding from academics and international donor agencies to work for peace in Nigeria," the embassy said. Mrs Asuni runs a high-profile non-governmental organisation called Academic Associates Peace Work and has run workshops with the Nigerian police on conflict management.
The Germans were detained last week by members of the State Security Service (SSS) after filming the masked youths. A few days later, the SSS also arrested Mrs Asuni whose organisation had provided some assistance to the two Germans. According to a security service official who spoke to the BBC, they suspected the three of an attempt to carry out an act of terrorism. "The lady is suspected of espionage by exploiting the situation in the Niger Delta," Addo Mwazu said.
Other reports suggest the arrests were because their actions intended to embarrass Nigeria. The Niger Delta is home to all of Nigeria's oil, responsible for 95% of hard currency earnings, but most of the peoples of the Delta live in abject poverty. This week, the main militant group in the region, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, called off a truce with the Nigerian government after the arrest of one of its leaders in Angola. It had announced a voluntary truce after the May inauguration of President Umaru Yar'Adua, but says talks have failed.
Last week, President Yar'Adua ordered an investigation into alleged links between government officials in the Niger Delta and violent criminal gangs.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
"SAYINGS"
"TO HIM WHO IS IN FEAR - EVERYTHING RUSTLES" !
Posted by: Mara at September 28, 2007 20:53 |
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sayings
KENYA GRAFT'AMNESTY BILL HALTED!
Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has rejected a law which in effect would have overlooked financial crimes by public officials committed before 2003.These include two notorious cases, the Goldenberg and Anglo Leasing scams, which diverted huge sums from the exchequer into officials' back pockets. The bill, passed by MPs earlier this month, also stopped elected officials from having to declare their assets. Mr Kibaki faces elections this year. He won in 2002 on an anti-graft platform.
Civil society groups and the diplomatic community had criticised the bill and had asked Mr Kibaki not to sign it. The BBC's Adam Mynott in the capital, Nairobi, says the MPs' vote to approve the bill two weeks ago prompted uproar. People demanded that the president not sign it, even though the clauses were approved by many of Mr Kibaki's supporters.
The president has now sent the bill back to parliament asking for changes to clauses which would have prevented the Kenya Anti-Corruption Council (KACC) from pursuing prosecutions into the Goldenberg and Anglo Leasing scandals. Our correspondent says corruption continues to be a millstone hanging round the neck of the Kenyan administration despite repeated promises by the country's leaders to eliminate it.
Even if the KACC retains its powers to carry out investigation before 2003, critics say it has shown no appetite to pursue senior figures in Kenya alleged to be behind large-scale corruption.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
EGYPT PAPERS AGREE DAY OF PROTEST !
The editors of 15 opposition and private newspapers in Egypt have agreed not to publish on 7 October.
The action is in protest at what they see as government harassment of the printed press. Seven journalists have recently been jailed for a range of offences, including insulting the ruling party, and misquoting a minister. Journalist, Ibrahim Issa, is to appear before a state security court, which does not allow the right of appeal.
Opponents of the government, ranging from bloggers to members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood movement, have been arrested in recent months. Public anxiety over rising food prices and water shortages this summer has also put the Egyptian authorities on edge.
Thousands of workers recently took control of one of Egypt's biggest state-owned textile factories in a continuing protest over pay and work conditions. BBC Cairo correspondent Heba Saleh says the Egyptian press is seething with anger at the prison sentences handed down to the seven journalists. Our correspondent says the fact that Mr Issa, who edits the al-Dustour, is being tried in a security court is another sign of the hardening of the government's position on dissenting voices in the papers. Hosni Mubarak has been in power for more than 25 years.
Mr Issa's newspaper had published several front page stories saying the president was dead or seriously ill. One alleged that Mr Mubarak sometimes lapsed into comas. State prosecutors said investors quickly took $350m (£172m) out of Egypt following these stories. "Talking about the president's health shouldn't be taboo... what I see is the mark of a regime gone crazy," Mr Issa told the AFP news agency on Thursday.
Mr Issa faces up to three years in jail on charges of undermining national security and inciting fear and panic. He is well-known as a scathing and irreverent critic of the government. Mr Mubarak has ruled Egypt for more than 25 years but has no designated successor, although many believe his son, Gamal, is being groomed for the role.
The United States has denounced the recent moves against the press but the Egyptian government has rejected what it called interference in its affairs.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
ERITREAN CHRISTIANS TELL OF TORTURE!
By Tanya Datta - BBC News, northern Ethiopia.
An Eritrean refugee lies contorted on the ground. Balanced on his belly, his hands clutch his feet behind his back, bending his legs back almost double. Paulus is demonstrating a torture technique known colloquially as "the helicopter". It is one he knows well. It was in this excruciating position, he claims, that soldiers left him tied up for 136 hours, in an attempt to force him to recant his faith. "They kept asking me to sign a document," he recalls, "and agree to not participate in church activities or express my faith in any form. I was told I would be untied and released the minute I agreed to their requests."
Paulus is an evangelical Christian from Eritrea, one of an increasing number fleeing the tiny Red Sea state because of religious persecution. Home these days is Shimelba refugee camp in northern Ethiopia, close to the disputed border with Eritrea. Here, in the Ebenezer Evangelical Church on camp, Paulus is free to worship in a way that is unthinkable back in his homeland.
During the past five years, a brutal campaign has been waged in Eritrea against Christian minorities, focusing mainly on the evangelical and Pentecostal movements. Weddings, baptisms, church services and prayer meetings have been raided by security forces. Guests or congregation members have rounded up and detained en masse.
According to Compass Direct, a non-governmental organisation reporting on the persecution of Christians around the world, it is estimated that almost 2,000 people are being held in jails across Eritrea because of their religious beliefs. The crackdown on Eritrea's minority churches followed a government announcement in May 2002 that only its four oldest faiths - Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran and Islam - would receive official sanction. The rest were invited to register and declare their sources of funding. To date, none has been registered.
Evangelical Christians who have been arrested face severe pressure to recant their faith. Some prisoners have been held in metal shipping containers. Accounts of torture, lack of food and terrible conditions are commonplace. Samuel (not his real name) is 24 and university-educated. Along with 19 others, he was arrested in 2005 when he attended the wedding of a friend. For the next 12 months, he was imprisoned and forced to do backbreaking manual labour. He was also regularly beaten.
On one occasion, Samuel said, he was suspended by his arms from a tree for three days in the form of a crucifixion. He was also constantly pressured to leave his faith. "They asked me if I would like to leave it. They asked every night for four months," he said. Some of his friends did recant after endless beatings. Samuel, as well as Paulus, were repeatedly asked about their links with the US. Evangelical and Pentecostal churches are widely perceived by the Eritrean authorities as having originated in the States, even though many fund themselves.
The US is threatening to declare Eritrea a rogue state for its alleged support of terrorists, and the mood of President Isaias Afwerki and his Marxist-oriented government is now openly anti-American. Yet even official, long-established faiths have not escaped government interference.
Patriarch Abune Antonios, the head of the Eritrean Orthodox Church - a faith followed by more than 40% of Eritrea's population - has been under house arrest for almost two years. Four months ago, the 80-year-old who suffers from diabetes was moved to an undisclosed location. Since then, there has been little information about what happened to him. No official reason has been given for his disappearance. His supporters, however, claim that he was arrested after he objected to the jailing of church leaders from the Medhane Alem, a spiritual renewal movement within the Orthodox church.
In May this year, a new patriarch was installed with the support of some Eritrean bishops. But the new patriarch has not been accepted by the Coptic Church in Alexandria, Egypt. Abba Seraphim is the head of the British Orthodox Church, which is launching an online petition to protest about the plight of the patriarch. He told me the patriarch was put under house arrest after he refused to do the government's bidding. "The only thing we've heard is that he's being kept in a darkened room. He managed to get a message to someone complaining about this," Mr Seraphim said.
But, according to Girma Asmeron, the Eritrean ambassador to Belgium, the disappearance of Patriarch Antonios is far from sinister. The patriarch, he claims, has retired to an isolated monastery and is very much "alive, kicking and praying". Mr Asmeron denies that there is any repression of religious freedom in Eritrea. He says persecution claims have been made up. And allegations of torture, he says, are stories invented by refugees "simply as a certificate" to enable them to get political asylum.
Refugees certainly continue to pour out of Eritrea. In two years, the number of asylum applications by Eritreans to the West has increased by 57%. The UNHCR recently described the exodus as "one of the world's most protracted refugee situations". My last contact with Eritrea's persecuted Christians came in an e-mail sent to me last week.
"The situation in Eritrea is getting worse and worse after the president stated that the US is funding the Pentecostal church in Eritrea," it said. "Many Christians are suffering in military concentrations [camps] and police stations... Pray for the Christians in Eritrea, and pray for the prisoners and their families."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
OIL MAN DIES IN NIGER DELTA RAID !
A foreign oil worker has been killed in an armed attack on a compound in the Nigerian oil city of Port Harcourt. Police say one Colombian national was killed, while a second Colombian and a Filipino have been kidnapped. The attack comes days after militants in the Niger Delta called off a ceasefire after their leader's arrest.
In the past, oil workers kidnapped in the Delta have usually been released unharmed. Militants want the region to receive more oil revenues. Security contractors said about 10 gunmen, some dressed in military fatigues, exchanged fire with soldiers at the Saipem yard before escaping.
"Some armed men came in boats, attacked Aka base where you have Saipem (oil services company)," police spokeswoman Ireju Barasua in Port Harcourt told Reuters news agency. The main militant group in the region, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend), called off a truce with the Nigerian government on Sunday.
It said it would begin a new campaign of foreign kidnappings after one of its leaders, Henry Okah, was arrested while in Angola. Mend announced a voluntary truce after the May inauguration of President Umaru Yar'Adua, but says talks have failed. Previous attacks on oil installations have slashed output of Nigerian crude.
Last week, President Yar'Adua ordered an investigation into alleged links between government officials in the Niger Delta and violent criminal gangs.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
WEAPONS DEADLINE IN SIERRA LEONE!
Police in Sierra Leone have ordered all civilians who own a weapon to hand them over to the police within two weeks. Police chief Brima Acha Kamara said automatic and semi-automatic rifles, pistols, shotguns and ammunition explosives should be surrendered.
Last week there were violent attacks in the wake of Ernest Bai Koroma's victory in a presidential run-off. But the BBC's Umaru Fofana in the capital, Freetown, says tensions have calmed in the country since then.
Our correspondent says that not many weapons are expected to be recovered as a comprehensive disarmament programme was conducted by the United Nations after the decade-long civil war ended in 2002.
More than 17,000 peacekeepers disarmed tens of thousands of rebels and militia fighters who fought in the conflict in which some 50,000 people were killed, and many more maimed and raped. "Failure to do so (hand in weapons) will be considered an act of defiance and the police will be at liberty to search and recover such weapons and bring the offenders to justice without mercy," Mr Kamara warned in a statement, AFP news agency reports.
Members of the armed forces and the police are exempt from the weapons ban. Mr Bai Koroma won 54.6% of the vote in the run-off against incumbent Vice-President Solomon Berewa.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
"Sayings"
"LOOK BACK, AND SMILE AT PERILS PAST" !
Posted by: Mara at September 27, 2007 20:43 |
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sayings
BOMB LINK TO KENYA FACTORY BLAST !
Kenyan investigators have reportedly found the remnants of five bombs at a steel recycling factory where five people died on Monday night in a blast.Eight other people are in hospital suffering from serious burns. At the time of the explosion, the manager had speculated that artillery shells may have been mistakenly loaded into the furnance. The factory, 40km (25 miles) south of the capital, Nairobi, recycles 150 tons of scrap metal per day.
Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe, however, has told the BBC he could not confirm remnants of bombs had been found. He says that the company whose factory was destroyed sources some of its scrap metal from southern Sudan and parts of Kenya where British and American troops train, and there was a possibility of shells being collected.
BBC NEWS REPORT
SA'S TOP POLICEMAN 'NOT ARRESTED' !
A South African police spokeswoman says she is not aware of a warrant being issued for the arrest of Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi. Sally De Beer was reacting to a South African Broadcasting Corporation report that a warrant had been issued. Mr Selebi is the current head of the international police body, Interpol.
Press reports have linked Mr Selebi to Glenn Agliotti, who was arrested last year in connection with the murder of leading businessman Brett Kebble. The SABC report said the warrant had been issued by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), which operates independently from the South African police. It added that the NPA had issued the warrant last week, before chief prosecutor Vusi Pikoli was suspended from his duties.
The role of the NPA and its relationship with the police has been the subject of intense political controversy in South Africa for the past four years. Mr Pikoli's suspension followed reports of disagreement with Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla over the NPA's role in the prosecution of former Deputy President Jacob Zuma on charges of corruption.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
SHOPPING IN SOWETO GOES UPMARKET !
By Peter Biles - BBC southern Africa correspondent.
Six thousand construction workers are scurrying to put the finishing touches to the Maponya Mall in Soweto. The 650 million rand ($92m, £47m)) complex, with its marble floors, is the largest shopping centre in southern Africa. Its official opening will be a major transformation for Soweto. The sprawling township used to be synonymous with poverty, overcrowding, unemployment and political violence.
But these days Soweto, which was so much a part of the long struggle against apartheid, has become the site of massive development. Property prices are rising, and international tourists visit Nelson Mandela's former family home.
The glitzy Maponya Mall is the life-long dream of 82-year-old Richard Maponya, who has owned the land here for 28 years. He began his business ventures in Soweto in the 1950s with a dairy. In the 1960s, he opened a butchery, grocery stores and a restaurant, and later liquor stores, petrol stations and car dealerships.
Mr Maponya has been assisted in the development of the massive new shopping centre in Pimville, Soweto, by his daughter, Chichi, who has made a name as a businesswoman in her own right. The Maponya Mall contains 200 stores, including many of South Africa's top retailers, such as Pick 'n Pay, Woolworths and Edgars.
There is also an eight-screen cinema complex - Soweto's first. The development is an important and timely boost for Soweto, with its population of more than one million. South Africa's burgeoning black middle-class has grown by a staggering 30% in the past 15 months, according to a recent survey on the so-called "Black Diamonds".
The developers of the Maponya Mall say the project will retain Sowetan money in the area. However, increasing numbers of middle class Sowetans have already made the move to Johannesburg's mainly white northern suburbs. Not all of them see their future in the township, despite the upgrading of infrastructure that has been undertaken in recent years.
An estimated 47% of the Black Diamonds now live in the suburbs, and 12,000 households are on the move every month. The challenge in Soweto, and across South Africa, is to reduce the high levels of unemployment that still exist in the poorer sections of society. Last year, Soweto marked the 30th anniversary of the 1976 uprising when students rebelled against the white apartheid state in a protest over the use of Afrikaans as the medium of instruction in schools.
The memories of the past are not forgotten, but the township has changed almost beyond recognition. Soweto is looking forward to the day when it can become a fully-fledged twin city of Johannesburg, rather than just a dormitory town.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
MUGABE CONDEMNS WESTERN 'ATTACKS' !
The president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, has accused the United States and Britain of a relentless campaign to destabilise and vilify his country. Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Mr Mugabe criticised George Bush's human rights record and policies on Iraq. He called for sanctions against Zimbabwe to be lifted.
Earlier Zimbabwean MPs approved a bill which would end foreign ownership of companies operating in the country. Mr Mugabe described the conflict in Iraq as the "misadventures" of President Bush and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. He said Mr Bush had no right to lecture the world on human rights. "His hands drip with the blood of many nationalities and today with the blood of Iraqis," he said. "Mr Bush and Mr Brown have no role to play in our national affairs," Mr Mugabe told the General Assembly. "They are outsiders and should therefore keep out."
Earlier Mr Bush told the assembly that Zimbabwe was suffering under a "tyrannical regime" and the UN should exert pressure on Mr Mugabe to allow greater freedoms. Mr Mugabe reiterated that regime change in Zimbabwe would not be brought about by outside influence. He was also critical of the United Nations Security Council, complaining that Africa did not hold a permanent seat or have the power of veto.
Meanwhile critics are saying that Zimbabwe's new Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Bill could hurt investor confidence in the country. It aims to ensure at least a 51% shareholding by indigenous black people in the majority of businesses. The governing Zanu-PF party says the move will empower the poor majority, but opposition politicians say it will only enrich a few powerful individuals.
Zimbabwe is currently experiencing the world's highest inflation and shortages of food, fuel and foreign currency. Presidential and parliamentary elections are due to be held next year, following South-African-mediated talks between the government and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
EGYPT ANGRY AT US RIGHTS COMMENT !
By Ian Pannell - BBC News, Cairo.
The US is concerned at recent court cases against journalists Egypt has reacted angrily to criticism of its human rights record by the United States.
The White House raised concerns about a number of court cases against the independent press and the closure of a human rights organisation. Egypt's foreign minister rejected the comments as "unacceptable interference" in the country's internal affairs. The pressure on independent and opposition forces in Egypt has been growing for many months now. But in the past two weeks, there seems to have been a particular move against the independent press.
In the most prominent case, one journalist has been ordered to stand trial in a secretive emergency court for publishing rumours about the health of the president. Elsewhere, a human rights group has been forced to shut down.
On Tuesday, the White House said these actions contradicted Egypt's stated commitment to democratic rights. Even so, this is a relationship that is unlikely to turn sour anytime soon. As Washington relies on Cairo to support its policies in the region, so Cairo relies on Washington for billions of dollars in aid.
But there was a time when the Bush administration hoped its plan for greater democracy in the region would be championed by its friends in Egypt.
These latest developments are further proof that this idea can be laid to rest.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
GAY BISHOP MOVE REJECTED BY KENYA
The head of Kenya's Anglican Church has rejected a compromise over gay bishops by US Episcopal Church leaders. They have said they will halt the ordination of gay bishops and public blessings of same-sex relationships to prevent a split in the Anglican Church. "That word 'halt' is not enough," said Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi.
Many African Anglicans threatened to leave the worldwide Anglican Communion after the ordination of the first openly gay bishop four years ago. The American Church was told to meet the conditions by 30 September or lose membership of the communion.
US bishops made the decision after a six-day meeting in New Orleans. The meeting was attended in part by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, who urged the Episcopal Church to make concessions for the sake of unity.
Last month, Archbishop Nzimbi presided over the consecration of two US bishops, Bill Murdoch and Bill Atwood, who left the US branch of the Anglican Church - the Episcopal Church - after it consecrated an openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson, in 2003.
Two US bishops were consecrated in Kenya last month.The Kenyan archbishop said the US church leaders' comments did not go far enough. "What we expected to come from them is to repent - that this is a sin in the eyes of the Lord and repentance is what me, in particular, and others expected to hear coming from this church," he said.
Correspondents say it was hoped the agreement would help defuse the crisis. But Assistant Bishop of Kampala, Ugandan David Zac Niringiye, says it was "not a change of heart" and showed the church was already split. "What this situation has brought to the fore is the malaise - something much deeper - that the entire communion has not dealt with and the consecration of Bishop Gene really brought to the surface something that was there," he told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.
"It is not the same church because it's broken on very fundamental lines." Traditionalists in the US are already making plans to set up their own independent church. Conservative churchgoers believe homosexuality is contrary to the Church's teachings. However, liberal Anglicans have argued that biblical teachings on justice and inclusion should take precedence.
The Episcopal bishops did reaffirm their commitment to the civil rights of gay people and said they opposed any violence towards them or violation of their dignity. The meeting in New Orleans follows a summit of Anglican leaders in Tanzania earlier in the year which gave the US Episcopal Church a deadline of 30 September to define its position on the issue.
The leaders threatened that a failure to do so would leave their relationship with the US branch of Anglicanism "damaged at best".
BBC NEWS REPORT.
