MORE NEWS FROM ZIMBABWE:

A member of Zimbabwe’s opposition has died as a result of police torture, according to the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Tonderai Machiridza, 32, died after six days in police custody, according to the MDC, which issued photographs of the unconscious Machiridza being carried to hospital.

Armed police took him from his home in Chitungwiza, on April 13.

But Mugabe’s pals with Jacques Chirac:

22 February 2003 Zimbabwe’s president, Robert Mugabe, and his wife, Grace, left their five-star Paris hotel last night at the end of the France-Africa summit, praising French hospitality and President Jacques Chirac’s role in “uniting the world.

“We’ve had tremendous hospitality, we felt at home,” said Mr Mugabe, who woke up yesterday, his 79th birthday, in the palatial Plaza Athénée hotel. “We leave with very good impressions about France.”

Mr Mugabe spoke of himself in the third person to Radio France Internationale: “Chirac was insistent that we attend because some members of the European Union did not want Mugabe to attend.”

Sheesh.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Then there’s this.