Zimbabwe: Results of the presidential election
The official results of the presidential election held on Wednesday 31 July, 2013 in Zimbabwe confirmed President Robert Mugabe’s seventh term in the office with 61 % of the vote. His main challenger Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) garnered 34 % of the vote. Further, Zanu–PF won 158 seats in parliament compared to MDC’s 49 seats.
Mr. Tsvangirai has rejected the results and declared that "the fraudulent and stolen election has launched Zimbabwe into a constitutional, political and economic crisis". He announced that the MDC will take legal action against these results and that the MDC will no longer work with Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party and will boycott government institutions. The former Prime Minister stated that he would produce a dossier of the alleged electoral fraud and called upon SADC to investigate.
The African Union (AU) with its 70 observers as well as the SADC with 600 observers declared the election as free, credible and peaceful. While most of the African leaders including South African’s President Jacob Zuma have congratulated President Mugabe for his victory, the United States of America, the United Kingdom and the European Union have expressed their concern regarding alleged irregularities and reports of incomplete participation.
The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), the largest group of monitors, alleged that up to one million people, mostly in urban areas were unable to cast their ballots because their names were missing in the voter registration.
The British Foreign Minister William Hague has called for investigation into all alleged violations while the US Secretary of State John Kerry declared that "in light of substantial electoral irregularities reported by domestic and regional observers, the United States does not believe that the results represent a credible expression of the will of the Zimbabwean people".
The Western States had to base their statements on the observations of domestic and regional observers because the major western groups were not invited to monitor the elections.
South Sudan: President Salva Kiir named a new cabinet
After dismissing his entire cabinet on Tuesday 23 July, 2013 South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir named a new smaller cabinet on Wednesday 31 July, 2013.
One of the new key appointees is Kuol Manyang who takes the key position of defence minister. He was a feared guerrilla commander of the SPLA during the rebellion against Sudanese government troops and he is currently the governor of eastern Jonglei state. The Oil Minister Stephen Dhieu Dau is one of the few ministers who retained their posts. The post of the Vice President is still vacant and the President did not give an indication as to when he will appoint Machar’s successor.
The new cabinet is perceived largely as comprising of President Kiir’s loyalists at the expense of his critics.
Kenya: The ICC Judges want the identity of all witnesses in the trial against Ruto and Sang
The ICC Judges have demanded from Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to justify further her request to conceal identities of some the witnesses in the trial against Deputy President William Ruto and Radio Journalist Joshua Sang.
Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda alleged that the witnesses have crucial information against Ruto and Sang and she wants to conceal theirs identities for safety reasons. She announced that she will not call them to testify during the trial.
However, the ICC Judges have issued an order to Bensouda to give more reasons for her request.
The lawyers of Ruto had objected to the application by the prosecution declaring that the request “is not only devoid of any factual merit, but it contains material and fundamental inaccuracies”.