Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 12 March 2009 — Page 16

Page 16 • The Muncie Times • March 12, 2009

AFRICAN BRIEFS

Zimbabwe’s Mugabe ready for lavish 85th birthday feast, while countrymen starve (GIN) -Zimbabwe President, Robert Mugabe will mark his 85th birthday this month with a lavish dinner of lobster, caviar, Moet and Chandon champagne, Johnny Walker Blue Label and a mountain of steaks carved from the slaughter of 500 cattle. While this sign of conspicuous consumption, millions of men, women and children in M ugabes 1 ong- s u ffe ring are barely surviving, relying on meager meals from foreign countries and humanitarian organizations. Hundreds of beef cattle have been donated for what has been described as an unprecedented feast in a country afflicted with widespread hunger. The party will be held Feb. 28 in Chinhoyi, a small town 70 miles from Harare, the capital, in the north-western part of the country. It sits in one of the areas worst affected by cholera, with almost 4,000 recorded cases and more than 140 deaths. Meanwhile, Mugabe loyalists are reported to be preparing mass summons against the few hundred remaining

white landowners who have defied eviction orders. The summons are to be served next Saturday, according to press reports. New occupants, mostly servicetake over the land. Mandela supports Zuma, ANC in this year's election (GI African president Nelson Mandela, his eldest grandson. Inkosi Zwelivelile Mandla Mandela, and his daughter, Zindzi, have pledged their full support for the African National Congress in the coming watershed elections on April 22: The Mandelas endorsement is a big boost for the ruling ANC party, which is facing mounting opposition from reformers who say the party has’abandoned its goals for uplifting the landless and poor. At Feb. 15 rally, under a heavy downpour in rural Eastern Cape, the former president pledged his continued support for the ANC. It was his first appearance at a political event in some years, since he retired from active politics. "Mandela is here today to say he will ’die

in the ANC’, said ANC President Jacob Zuma. “He was the number 10th president; Zizi (Thabo Mbeki) number 11th and I am number 12th. We are blessed that he became South Africa’s first democratiSaid the grandson: “Today we are here to show that the house of Mandela will die in the ANC...Wc stayed in organization. We were born in this organization and we'll never leave it. like others did." Campaigner against Rwanda genocide perishes in deadly . plane crash

(GIN)—Noted human rights activist, Alison Des Forges, died Feb. 12 in a plane crash in Buffalo, N,Y. She will be remembered worldwide for her tireless human rights efforts in Central Africa. Alisos documented and predicted the horrific genocide in Rwanda in 1994. Her advocacy efforts brought U.S. attention to the brutal death of more than 800,000 Rwandans. Her book, Leave None to Tell the Story, is widely considered to be

the definitive account of the genocide. Her expertise in Rwanda led her to testify before the International Criminal Tribunal in Tanzania, before tte U.S. Congress and on panels convened by the United Des Forges was a professor at the University of New York at Buffalo, but continued to camlan rights abuses in central Africa. She is survived V. Des Forges, two children and three grandchildren. 21st African movie festival will honor Modibo Diarra (GIN)—Africa’s most prestigious film festival will honor Cheick Modibo Diarra, Malian astrophysicist and president of the African section of Microsoft, when the gala week-long event opens this year on The PanAfrican Festival of Cinema and Television of Ouagadougou (FESPACO), now in its 21st year, takes place in the capital of Burkina Faso, West Africa. Diarra, born in 1952 in Mali, studied mathematics, physics and analytical mechanics in Paris at the University

Pierre and Marie Curie, then space engineering in the United States. He was recruited by NASA and was UNESCO goodwill since 2006. Two years earlier, FES PACO honored the famous Cameroonian musician, Manu Dibango, whose Soul Makossa is often considered the first disco record. Global Information Network provides news and information on Africa and the developing world to mainstream, alternative, ethnic and minorit}'-owned outlets in the United States and Canada. Our goal is to increase the perspectives available to readers in North America and to bring into their view information about global issues that are overlooked or under-reported by mainstream media. For more information, contact: Lisa Vives Executive Director Global Information Network 146 West 29th Street Suite 7E New York, NY 10001 www.globalinfo. org 212-244-3123 (voice) 212-244-3522 (fax)