ZIMBABWE: President Robert Mugabe surprised his critics yesterday when his government failed to introduce a much-criticised law that would ban foreign journalists and hamstring local ones.
As the British government announced that it will not deport any more Zimbabwean asylum-seekers, the parliament in Harare instead debated measures intended to crack down on the opposition-led trade union movement.
The media Bill, which outlaws any reporting deemed to sow "alarm and despondency", appears to contradict a promise by Mr Mugabe on Monday that foreign journalists will be allowed to report the elections.
According to some reports, the Bill was delayed yesterday because Zanu-PF failed to muster enough MPs to carry the vote. Mr Welshman Ncube of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said he expected it to be introduced today.
President Mugabe has come under sharp pressure from friends and foes alike since he introduced a raft of repressive new Bills last week, some of which have already passed into law.
Fellow leaders at the Southern African Development Community (SADC) expressed concern about the measures at a meeting in Malawi on Monday but failed to impose sanctions.
The SADC chairman, Mr Bakili Muluzi, said Mr Mugabe had promised to hold fair and free elections and allow foreign reporters.
However, Mr Mugabe has broken his word in the past, most recently after a Commonwealth meeting in September. When asked if he could be trusted this time, Mr Muluzi said: "I raised that question myself with him. He said, 'It will be done', and I take his word for it."
Western powers are not so trusting. According to yesterday's Financial Times, the British and US officials are preparing to impose targeted sanctions on Mr Mugabe and his inner circle by identifying millions of dollars held in foreign bank accounts.
And as the US assistant Secretary of State, Mr Lorne Craner, arrived in Zimbabwe to examine growing instability, reports of political violence continued to emerge.
An MDC official, Mr David Mpala, had his abdomen slit open during a roadside attack by 20 Zanu-PF supporters, according to party colleagues. The police said they were investigating the incident. Neighbours of a white farmer, Mr Patrick Ashton (53), said he was also badly injured after being beaten by a Zanu gang on his farm.
In contrast, police said they had arrested two MDC activists for attacking ruling party youths with "axes and logs" in Nkayi, 161 miles south-west of Harare.
Rachel Donnelly reports from London:
The British Government has suspended all further deportations of failed asylum-seekers to Zimbabwe until after the country's president election in March, amid international concern about intimidation of political opponents.
The Home Secretary, Mr David Blunkett, announced the decision yesterday after Home Office officials carried out a review of immigration rules, concluding that 106 Zimbabweans currently awaiting deportation should remain in Britain. The detainees - 90 are failed asylum-seekers and 16 are being deported for other reason - are being held in removal centres.
Ruling out any reassessment of their immigration status, Mr Blunkett said the "pause" in deportations would allow officials to monitor developments in Zimbabwe. Stressing that Britain's asylum system had to be robust enough to withstand public scrutiny, Mr Blunkett added: "There is no assumption at this point that those whose asylum claims have been refused are at risk when they go back, but I'm not prepared to risk them being persecuted or imprisoned."