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[Culise]

Welp, it's off and flying now.  After his brief appearance a couple days back at Zimbabwe Open University for the sake of making all appear normal in spite of recent events, Mugabe no longer leads his political party, and he's being called on to resign the presidency. 

[Doomblade187]

And now he has refused, according to Reuters. link

[smjjames]

Your link is broken somehow, it's not working. Anyways, yeah, he's refusing to step down, which isn't surprising for dictators and presidents-for-life since they don't tend to step down peacefully or without a fight. http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/19/africa/zimbabwe-mugabe-party-meeting/index.html

What's next is supposed to be an impeachment proceedings. Even then, things aren't certain whether democracy will actually be put in place since the presumed successor is every bit a strongman as any typical dictator.

[Strife26]

Anyone placing odds on Rhodesia popping up again?

[IronyOwl]

Mugabe's still ridiculously popular for battling the Imperial Menace, so I suspect only around half the country would go for it.

Would be a hilarious referendum, though.

[smjjames]

Why would they rename it back to the old colonial name?

Apparently Mugabe is going to stick around politically as an elder advisor or something. Or he might go into exile, depends on how many people want him dead or at least out of the picture politically.

Meanwhile, Mnenguneng (sp?? seriously. His nickname is 'crocodile' though.) promised 'jobs, jobs, jobs', which sounds exactly like Trump, though it's a pretty cliche political statement. The guy has a reputation for being brutal (see his nickname, one doesn't get that by being a nice guy), but is claiming that he'll reform things and make things better. Whether he'll allow elections to happen normally remains to be seen, but for now it looks like they're just exchanging one dictator for another.

[IronyOwl]

Why would they rename it back to the old colonial name?

Because things were nice back then.

Meanwhile, Mnenguneng (sp?? seriously. His nickname is 'crocodile' though.) promised 'jobs, jobs, jobs', which sounds exactly like Trump, though it's a pretty cliche political statement. The guy has a reputation for being brutal (see his nickname, one doesn't get that by being a nice guy), but is claiming that he'll reform things and make things better. Whether he'll allow elections to happen normally remains to be seen, but for now it looks like they're just exchanging one dictator for another.

So nothing like Trump in particular.

Dictator train is almost assuredly going to continue rolling unless anti-Mugabe sentiment reaches a boiling point for some reason, at which point we'll probably have a bloody uprising/suppression. More likely the question is how competent this dictator will be.

That said, Mugabe had a cult of personality going that undoubtedly helped hold things together. It'll be interesting to see if the new boss can continue things as usual or if there's weird splits and breakdowns in places Mugabe never had to worry about. Or maybe those will just be opportunities to keep living up to his nickname and we'll get some fresh new innovations on brutal totalitarianism.

[smjjames]

Why would they rename it back to the old colonial name?

Because things were nice back then.

Nicer for who? Besides, that'd defeat the point of their whole civil war and overthrowing the majority white government.

[IronyOwl]

Nicer for who?

Economically, everyone. Politically/racially, it's complicated.

Besides, that'd defeat the point of their whole civil war and overthrowing the majority white government.

Arguably, so did running the country into the ground and keeping their foot on the pedal.

[Arx]

I'm optimistic that it's very difficult for Mnangagwa to be worse than Mugabe on a grand scale, although his reputation for brutality does worry me. Violent government oppression is one of the few ways for Zimbabwe to go downhill from here.

"Jobs, jobs, jobs" sounds like typical political rhetoric, but it's pretty much exactly what Zim needs at the moment. The country practically doesn't have an economy, trying to repair that is priority number one.

[Doomblade187]

And Zuma has resigned as president today.

I figured this would be the proper thread.

https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-africa-43066443

[martinuzz]

In Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, the French embassy, a French cultural center, the home of the prime minister, and the headquearters of the national army have come under terrorist attack.
Gunmen jumped from cars in the city center, attacking random people in the street, while advancing on the embassy.
Loud explosions were heard at the cultural center.
The city is clouded in thick black smoke.

French president Macron is being briefed on the situation by the Elysée. The embassy has urged all staff to stay inside.
According to the Burkina Faso police, several assailants have been shot and killed, and the situation at the embassy and cultural center is now under control. It is unknown what the status is at the premier's home, or the army base.

Burkina Faso, formerly Upper Volta, was a French colony until 1960.

[Dorsidwarf]

According to the BBC, at least 8 attackers and 8 security personnel have been killed
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-43257453

[martinuzz]

In Kenia, a judge ruled that anal examination of males to check if they had anal sex is against the Constitution.
Homosexuality is still a criminal offense in Kenia, but those suspected of homosexuality can henceforth no longer be anal probed.
I guess that's a small step forward
Punishment for homosexuality in Kenia is up to 14 years in prison.

[Cruxador]

I somewhat doubt how useful that would be at actually determining what it's alleged to determine.