News from Africa
Negotiations in Zimbabwe
South African President Thabo Mbeki is trying to secure a deal between his Zimbabwean counterpart, Robert Mugabe, and the opposition’s Morgan Tsvangirai. The BBC provides an update on the ongoing talks in Harare.
Talks are under way in Zimbabwe to try to finalise a power-sharing deal between President Robert Mugabe and the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
South African President Thabo Mbeki is acting as mediator at the talks, which are taking place in a Harare hotel.
Reports in some South African papers say a deal is close, and that a final agreement could be reached shortly.
Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai are due to meet after more than a week of talks between their parties, reports say.
One widely touted solution is that Mr Mugabe, the Zanu-PF leader, may become ceremonial president while Mr Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, is made executive prime minister.
But there has been no official comment on these reports, apart from statements from all sides that the talks have been progressing well.
More on this story from the UK Guardian
The Mauritanian Coup
The Mauritanian army puts soldiers on the streets of the capital, and the civilian leadership in detention, as it takes power of Mauritanian in a coup. The military junta deposed the government just over a year after country’s first democratic elections since independence in the 1960’s. The coup leaders promised to hold fresh elections “as soon as possible”. Al Jazeera’s Inside story asks: Is it a set back for democracy? Or setting the right democratic path after a power struggle at the top?
In other news from Mauritania, the African Union (AU) has suspended Mauritania’s membership in the wake of a coup in that country. An AU spokesperson El-Ghassim Wane said in Addis Ababa that membership is automatically frozen in the case of a coup. More from the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation.
Former Botwsana President Launches New Initiative to Fight HIV/AIDS
Former Botswana president Festus Mogae has launched a new initiative that will try to use the energy and experience of a group of renowned and forthright African leaders to persuade their peers on the continent to inject fresh energy into their efforts to combat AIDS. Africa is the region hardest hit by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, with countries south of the Sahara home to 22-million people with the disease, two-thirds of the world’s total. More from All Africa.