South African deputy president Jacob Zuma, flew to Harare late on Thursday to congratulate Mr Mugabe in person, and the two men were photographed hugging each other and giving the one-fisted amandla (power) salute of the black liberation struggle.
Meanwhile, Mr Mugabe's police were using his draconian public order and security decrees to break up a meeting of the Zimbabwean Congress of Trades Unions.[End Excerpt]
Zimbabwe -- Big Three to judge Mugabe fate--[Excerpt] General Abdulsalami Abubakar, the former Nigerian President who headed the Commonwealth observers' mission to Zimbabwe, said the possibility of the Commonwealth overseeing new elections in Zimbabwe was one of a range of options. 'We are looking for ways the Commonwealth can assist Zimbabwe to resolve its crisis. There are many complex issues to be addressed, including the land issue, the economy, and the political situation,' said General Abubakar, whose condemnation of the Zimbabwean election will be the basis of the troika meeting.
Abubakar guided the 42 observers in drafting the report, which describes how the elections were compromised by state-sponsored violence, unfair application of the rule of law, repressive legislation, restrictions on civic groups, the disenfranchisement of substantial numbers of voters and the blatant bias of the state media.
According to Commonwealth observers who met until late Friday night to draft the full report, there was emphatic agreement over the findings. Only one of the 42 Commonwealth observers, the Namibian delegate, was unhappy with the report, and other African members firmly supported it.
An eerie, uneasy vacuum has settled over Harare, as Mugabe has not uttered a public word since he was declared the election victor on Wednesday. But his signing into law of the repressive new media bill signalled his intention to silence the critical independent press. [End Excerpt]