Mugabe alive and well,says his spokesman George Charamba

The Zimbabwean government has dismissed a false report by an
online publication, ZimEye,that President Mugabe collapsed and died while in thenFar East where he is on his annual leave. 

The website published thenstory under the headline:“Rumour rips CIO (Central Intelligence Organisation) thatnMugabe has collapsed”. Presidential spokesperson andnpermanent secretary in the Zimbabwean Ministry of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services, Mr George Charamba said the false rumours about President Mugabe’s alleged death had become a usual chorus everyJanuary whenever he is on his annual leave which is heavily criticized by Zimbabwean opposition parties.

 “You can doubt that there can be a New Year, but you cannot doubt that there will be a storybon the President’s alleged death every January,” he said. “This is the way the website seeks to improve its hits in order to get dirty money from Google.

 There is a financial incentive to the grim lie. “Government is exploring
mechanisms for dealing with such extra territorial mischief.
These websites ride on carriers,don’t they?” Some people picked the hoax
that first appeared on the ZimEye website and started circulating it on social media. The ZimEye website that is known for fabricating stories,published the story under the pretext of a letter to the editor by one of their readers. Online media reports yesterday claimed that a South African radio station also picked up thebfalse story and ran it before retracting it and apologising.

Mozambican refugees fleeing to Malawi

Malawi continues receiving hundreds of refugees from Mozambique, six months after RENAMO fighters carried out two attacks in Tete province.

The fighting in July forced more than 700 people into Malawi, and refugees say they continue to flee atrocities and killings by militias. Refugees are entering daily atbthe newly established Kapise ll camp in Malawi's Mwanza district.  It is home to more than 2,500 refugees.

Refugees tell stories about people they believe are FRELIMO government fighters torching their houses and killing their relatives on suspicion of hosting RENAMO fighters. Flora Emberson is one of them. “My uncles’s son was shot dead just a few meters from where I was. When I rushed to see
what had happened, he could not speak and was almost dead. I did not hesitate, but run way for safety,” she said. 

Camp supervisors say they register almost 40 refugees a day, many women and
children.Camp residents say they have not received food aid since
mid-December.One of the refugees, Elena Limited, says life is tough.
“We do not have clothes,blankets and food. Although we are constructing makeshift shelters, we do not have any protection from the rains, and
our fear is that it will be another trouble when the rains come,” she said.

 Many survive by working in nearby maize gardens or turning maize husks into flour for cooking porridge. Villagers worried But the refugee influx worries villagers near the camp. “We are staying with these people in the village, yes, but
we are living in fear because we believe that in time they will completely run out of food, they will start stealing from us in our homes,” says William
Mitiwe, the headman at Kapise ll village.

The villagers also fear some of the refugees might have run with weapons that can be used against them. Mozambican authorities reportedly said those fleeing into Malawi are either thugs or lazy people. But refugee Jaleo Bernaldo denies this.“They cannot say we are lazy people who are leaving Mozambique for free things at a refugee camp in Malawi. Here at the camp there are all sorts of people, including children,adults and the aged," says Bernaldo. "Do they mean they are the ones who have been feeding us all this time?” 

Searching for solutions Malawi government authoritiessay they are trying to work with their Mozambican counterparts on how best to address the issue.

Meanwhile, international bodies are helping out. Doctors Without Borders is providing medical help. The United Nations has provided some tents and has established a children's counseling center, where children also sing songs to help relieve them of trauma due to running away from home.Malawi previously hosted Mozambicans who fled a 16- year civil war between 1977 and 1992.

SOURCE VOA NEWS

Afonso Dhlakama revealed will of Jacob Zuma in mediation

The Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama said Monday that South African President Jacob Zuma and the Catholic Church accepted the invitation to mediate dialogue between his party and the government.


Afonso Dhlakama spoke on a conference call accompanied in  one of the hotel establishments in the city of Beira, by cadres of his party at various levels and journalists from various media.

"I can assure you, from the basis of contacts made with our neighbhour
South Africa, there are already satisfactory steps. I know that President Zuma is willing to help us. " - Afonso Dhlakama said.

With regard to the Catholic Church, which is part of the group presented by Renamo for mediation, Dhlakama assured that there is already favorable response.

Frelimo says the new SG election is not on the agenda

Frelimo, the largest political movement in the country, will now count from the beginning of next February, with a new composition of the Central Committee (CC), which is the deliberative organ of the party,which will meet in the city of
Matola at its Second Extraordinary Session.

The session will take place on the afternoon of February 5 at the Central School of the party, and will on schedule the restructuring of the CC, taking into account in implementing the directive on incompatibilities.

"In principle and so far, the only point of the agenda is the restructuring of the Central Committee,  but another point may arise,but right now, the agenda has only one point," said the spokesman of the party,Damiao Jose in telephone contact with "O Pais".

According to our source, the central aim of the restructuring is to conform the party organs with the directive adopted in the last session, which prohibits the elected deputies of the National Assembly (RA)and members of the Provincial
Assembly (PA), occupying positions in the party structure.

Interior Minister announcessafety measures to prevent fueltheft at ports.

One of the recent cases took place about a month ago in the port of Maputo, right at the Grain Terminal in Matola.

At the time, the assault on the site, aimed at stealing fuel, culminated in a fire that killed the 17 supposed criminals involved in the crime, and the partial destruction of the grain unloading system.

Concerned about this situation, which also affects other ports of the country, the Interior Minister Jaime Monteiro, visited on Tuesday, one of the largest
ports in the country, of Beira,in Sofala province.

On the occasion, the minister defended the need for increased security measures to prevent theft in ports.

In this regard, the minister announced that, for example, the Port of Beira to have new protection system and maximum safety measures within a few days, through extensive patrolling to prevent individuals from unlawlfully accessing the port area and avoid the stealing of fuel and other goods.

The National Election Commission considering Electronic voting

The National Election Commission (CNE) is conducting a study for the introduction of electronic voting in electoral processes in the country. This was revealed to the press by the president of the agency, Abdul Carimo Sau. 

At the time Carimo Sau justified this idea of the need for this type of voting power ultimately to contribute to the credibility of the national elections, whose final results are always questioned by one of the competing parties,the second largest opposition party, Renamo ,led by Alfonso Dhlakama.

"We are conducting a study - attention a study - to determine the extent to which electronic voting may be a solution to the lack of confidence and the speed of dissemination of voter results,as in other countries. Between us there is no confidence in what we write and sign ,machines eventually can bring us this confidence. They can bring us this quickly. After the voting, the machines are shut down, the results are all funneled into a central command and are disclosed that same night. And that's possible, "said the leader of the CNE. Carimo Sau considers that in Mozambique there are conditions for electronic voting to succeed.

"Importantly, Mozambique has advanced a lot in the use of technology in terms of electoral management. Already  the census, all of it,biometric.We make the level of the Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE) typing results of the election process that initiates the district level, where data is entered into a computer and then is taken into "flash" to the Provincial Directorate of STAE and this makes the sum using these technological means and from there the data is forwarded to the central level, where  the same operation is performed. Therefore,  we've progressed a lot and just missing electronic voting, "he emphasized.
 
On the other hand, the president of the CNE revealed that the body that directs the  elections is preparing another document, this time about the changes it would like to see introduced in the electoral law. 
" CNE believes that it should work with  Parliament in the review process of the electoral legislation, so we are undertaking work in order to submit a document to Parliament to serve as a basis for discussion with other stakeholders of the electoral process . Of course this is not a bill (because the CNE is not a body with legislative initiative) but a document that purports to show the difficulties that the electoral bodies move to implementation of this procedure is not suited to our reality " he said. 

The president of the national electoral oversight body aimed at reducing the number of members of the various electoral management bodies as one of the main points to consider when changing the legislation. 
"We look, for example, at the number of  elements that constitute the election management bodies. Only the first part requires the election management bodies of great sacrifices and charges. We are talking about facilities that do not exist to accommodate this number of elements, in such a way that, in the last election the members, the level of support agencies, did not work in very decent conditions. 

Therefore, Parliament when it will make an assessment and approval of a law that speaks of the number of elements to the electoral bodies (at different levels) must take into account the reality of the country, "he said. 

He noted that at present the country  has no way to respond to this requirement of such large numbers of members of electoral management bodies. 
On the other hand, and according to our source, the country is faced also with problems to support this electoral machine. "We are talking about spaces, we are talking about current means, we are talking about new materials and training  people." 

"We have a large country, where people who join the electoral bodies have no previous experience. We do not know what the criteria are that political parties notice to submit their candidates for these bodies, but what we find is that the vast majority have no previous experience and have no information, on the electoral law, or on the Constitution of the republic, let alone the various procedures necessary for the functioning of the electoral bodies. Hence, all these people need training and this type of training costs much money to the CNE, and the country. Therefore, we should review the way to establish the electoral bodies in the country, "he said. 

Islamic State militant 'executes own mother' in Raqqa

Islamic State militant 'executes own mother' in Raqqa - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-35260475