Category: Foreign

A government statement, on Monday announced that the late former president of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe will be buried on Sept. 15.

Mugabe, 95, died on Sept. 6 in Singapore where he had been receiving medical treatment since April.

He ruled Zimbabwe for nearly four decades until November 2017 when he resigned.

According to the memo to diplomats accredited to Harare, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said a funeral service for Mugabe will be held on Saturday in the National Sports Stadium, before his burial on Sunday.

The ministry did not indicate where Mugabe, who has since been declared a national hero, will be buried.

According to the country’s tradition, national heroes and heroines are buried at the National Heroes Acre, a hill top in the capital Harare although families may opt for another burial place.

In the memo, the ministry said Heads of State and Government wishing to attend the state funeral service on Saturday should arrive in Harare on Friday.

“Heads of State/Government are expected to depart immediately after the ceremony taking into consideration that Government authorities will be fully occupied with preparations for the burial service/ceremony reserved for Sept. 15.

“The full programme for the funeral service will be made available in due course.’’

The government has said it will send a high-powered delegation led by Vice President Kembo Mohadi to Singapore on Monday to help with the repatriation of Mugabe’s body.

His body is expected to arrive in the country on Wednesday.

(FLOWERBUDNEWS) A government statement, on Monday announced that the late former president of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe will be buried on Sept. 15.

Mugabe, 95, died on Sept. 6 in Singapore where he had been receiving medical treatment since April.

He ruled Zimbabwe for nearly four decades until November 2017 when he resigned.

According to the memo to diplomats accredited to Harare, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said a funeral service for Mugabe will be held on Saturday in the National Sports Stadium, before his burial on Sunday.

The ministry did not indicate where Mugabe, who has since been declared a national hero, will be buried.

According to the country’s tradition, national heroes and heroines are buried at the National Heroes Acre, a hill top in the capital Harare although families may opt for another burial place.

In the memo, the ministry said Heads of State and Government wishing to attend the state funeral service on Saturday should arrive in Harare on Friday.

“Heads of State/Government are expected to depart immediately after the ceremony taking into consideration that Government authorities will be fully occupied with preparations for the burial service/ceremony reserved for Sept. 15.

“The full programme for the funeral service will be made available in due course.’’

The government has said it will send a high-powered delegation led by Vice President Kembo Mohadi to Singapore on Monday to help with the repatriation of Mugabe’s body.

His body is expected to arrive in the country on Wednesday. (Xinhua/NAN)

The University of Zimbabwe, on Tuesday, postponed the convocation, earlier slated for Sept. 13 by a week, following the death of the former president, Robert Mugabe.

The postponement also followed the declaration of national days of mourning, which coincide with the initial date for the graduation.

In a press statement issued by the Information and Public Relations Department, the country’s leading university said the ceremony would now hold on Sept. 20.

“The postponement follows the sad passing on of former President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Robert Gabriel Mugabe and the subsequent declaration, by government, of national mourning until his burial.’’

The government has already announced that Mugabe, who died in Singapore on Sept. 6, would be buried on Sunday, Sept. 15, although it did not indicate where the burial would take place.

There had been reports earlier that Mugabe, who resigned as President in November 2017, had indicated that he did not want to be buried at the National Heroes Acre in Harare.

His family is also yet to confirm the burial date.

The family spokesperson, Leo Mugabe, told the media that traditional leaders in Mugabe’s rural home, Zvimba, would make an announcement on the matter.

A High Court in London has rejected a suit challenging Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend parliament for five weeks ahead of Queen’s speech on 14 October.

But in Parliament things don’t look for Johnson as reports said Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour and other parties have agreed not to Support PM’s General Election demand before EU Summit.

The Mail Online reported that Labour will block Boris Johnson’s plans for an early General Election until November after entering into a pact with the SNP to stop a No Deal exit.

According to the newspaper, Jeremy Corbyn held a secret meeting on Thursday with Ian Blackford, the Scottish nationalists’ Westminster leader, to agree an election should only be held after Britain has secured another Brexit delay from the EU.

Mr Corbyn believes he can derail the Prime Minister’s plans to hold a vote on October 15, forcing him to seek another delay to Brexit.

The Labour and SNP chiefs agreed to October 20 at the earliest, The Telegraph reported, although Mr Corbyn’s advisers have told him to go for November.

The Prime Minister is being frustrated by Mr Corbyn, who along with Mr Blackford, has repeatedly called for a general election over the last two years, only to back off with October 31 looming.

Mr Johnson is expected to go for broke on Monday and call for a general election again after he was slapped down in the Commons this week.

It comes after yet another atrocious day for the Prime Minister on Thursday, with his younger brother Jo Johnson resigning from the cabinet and Johnson being heckled by the public on the campaign trail, where he made the desperate statement that he will rather die in the ditch than delay Brexit beyond 31 October.

The legal challenge against Johnson’s planned suspension of parliament was filed by remainer campaigner Gina Milla.

The court said the case could still be taken to the Supreme Court for a final appeal.

Johnson announced at the end of August that he would suspend parliament from mid-September to mid-October, just before Britain is due to leave the European Union on Oct. 31, so the government could announce a new legislative program.

That prompted campaigner Gina Miller, who defeated the government over another Brexit issue two years ago, to bring a legal challenge. She was later joined in the process by former Prime Minister John Major and opposition political parties.

Miller told reporters outside court that parliament should be sitting during such a crucial time for Britain’s democracy, and she would not give up the fight.

“The Supreme Court has penciled in Sept. 17 for the appeal hearing,” she said. “My legal team and I will not give up the fight for democracy.”

Miller’s lawyer, David Pannick, argued on Thursday that comments from Johnson showed an important part of his reasoning for the prorogation, or suspension, was that parliament might say or do something that impeded the government’s Brexit plans.

The legal challenge has lost some of its impact after lawmakers voted this week to force Johnson to seek a three-month delay to Brexit rather than leave without an agreement on Oct. 31, a move that is likely to lead to an election.

Separate legal challenges to Johnson’s Brexit plans are also being heard in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Iran has said that the seized British-flagged oil tanker, Stena Impero, would be released in the coming days, official IRNA news agency reported.

Legal procedure concerning the British oil tanker is about over and “we hope it will be released in the near future,’’ Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Abbas Mousavi, was quoted as saying.

Iran detained the Stena Impero on July 19 on the allegations that it violated the maritime regulations while passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

Last Wednesday, Iran released seven crew members of the oil tanker.

The Iranian officials have ruled out any link between Stena Impero’s case and British seizure of the Iranian supertanker Grace 1 off the coast of Gibraltar.

The Grace 1, renamed as Adrian Darya 1, was released by the Gibraltar authorities on Aug. 16.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Tuesday that South African women are living in fear as gender-based violence continues unabated.

He made the statement against the backdrop of the murders of University of Cape Town student Uyinene Mrwetyana and South African boxing champion Leighandre Jegels.

Mrwetyana was murdered by her boy friend while Jegels was murdered by a stranger, both incidences happened in August as South Africans celebrated the Women’s Month dedicated to the protection of women.

“This is a very dark period for South Africa, assaults, rapes and murders of women are a stain on our national conscience.

“South Africa has been gripped by rising gender-based violence in recent time. Earlier, presidency signed Declaration on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide with various civil society formations and directed that urgent attention be given to its implementation.

“Particularly on immediate measures around support to victims and access to shelters and places of safety,“ Ramaphosa said.

Ramaphosa, however, promised to meet with the leadership of the police soon to be briefed on steps being undertaken to stem the tide of gender-based violence in the country.

He commended enforcement authorities for their action which led to the arrests of two suspects linked to the brutal murders of Mrwetyana and Jegels.

Mrwetyana’s alleged killer was arrested and charged with rape, murder and defeating the ends of justice. The man suspected of killing Jegels was also arrested and has since died in the hospital.

Coalation of Civil Society groups in Kaduna has called on Nigeria to suspend diplomatic relations with South Africa over unwarranted killings of Nigerians in that country.

Yusuf Amoke, who addressed a press conference on behalf  of the coalition on Wednesday in Kaduna, said they want the Federal Government to seek for a special meeting of the AU to discuss the matter.

“Nigeria and other African Governments should suspend all kind of relationship with the government of South Africa until a convincing assurance is given by the government of South Africa that such dastardly act would not repeat itself,” it said.

The coalition also said that South Africa must be made to compensate families of the victims and those whose businesses were destroyed.

“Nigerian Government should also request for an African Union (AU) Emergency Meeting to take a decisive position and sanction the South African Government for being unable to put an end to this reoccurring decimal in their country.”

It added that the Nigerian Government should institute necessary logistical preparations to bring back all Nigerians willing to return home from South Africa.

“Also Nigerian Government should sanction South African business environment in Nigeria by temporarily shutting them down until certain agreements are reached.”

The group called on President Muhammadu Buhari to directly engage the President of South Africa and decisively demand for answers on the killings.

“We the people of Africa, particularly Nigeria, bitterly mourn the senseless killings of fellow Africans by South Africans, which is covertly supported by the Government of South Africa.

“It is worthy to remind the South African people and its Government that the freedom they enjoy today was a result of collective efforts of other African Nations, most especially Nigeria.

“We as a people refused to be violent against South Africans living, studying and doing businesses in Nigeria, not because we cannot be violent, but because we simply refused to be animals.

“However, further of such action on a single Nigerian will leave us with no choice but to react in a more deadly manner that would be a shocker to not only the South African Government and People but also to the international community.”

Dorian regained strength to become a major Category 3 hurricane on Thursday as it churned towards the Carolinas, with forecasters warning coastal residents of potentially devastating storm surge flooding.

Dorian had weakened as it scraped past the Florida coast, after earlier causing catastrophic damage to the Bahamas as a Category 5 hurricane.

At least 20 people are known to have died as the storm battered the island chain for some 48 hours, ravaging the country with massive flooding, flattening entire neighbourhoods and stranding residents due to impassable high water.

The Miami-based National Hurricane Centre said early Thursday that Dorian was packing maximum sustained winds of 185 kilometres per hour.

It warned low-lying residents in the states of Georgia, South and North Carolina, and Virginia of “life-threatening inundation’’ from rising water.

Forecasters said Dorian’s centre should move near to, or over, the North Carolina coast later Thursday.

By Saturday morning it is expected to be hovering around the New England area as a far-weaker storm before dissipating in the North Atlantic.