Neighbours laud Mugabe at summit of African leaders - 17 Aug 2007 - SOUTHERN Africa's political leaders rallied round Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, and publicly lauded the man who has brought his country to the brink of total collapse as a hero. Mr Mugabe was greeted with cheers, applause, dancing and laughter from fellow dignitaries when he arrived in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, for the two-day summit of leaders of the 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC). Mr Mugabe, 83, smiled broadly as he acknowledged the rapturous welcome....Zimbabwe's combative justice minister, Patrick Chinamasa, accompanying Mr Mugabe, said: "There are no political reforms necessary in my country. We are a democracy like any other democracy in the world." Human rights organisations say all Zimbabwean parliamentary and presidential elections since 200 have been heavily rigged, but the justice minister said: "We have a most efficient electoral system. I can't see how a system can be more transparent or any fairer." As Mr Chinamasa spoke, reports surfaced that a 15-year-old boy and a security guard were crushed to death as hordes of shoppers had tried to buy scarce sugar in Zimbabwe's second city of Bulawayo.
Summit of African leaders? More like a meeting of the Mafia Commission.
Astonishing. Just astonishing.
So it seems rather official that there's no hope for any country on the African continent. Not in this generation, at least.
And all this despite having a large population of Christian believers.