Global News Journal
Beyond the World news headlines
from Africa News blog:
Hopes of a nation hinge on a document
On July 7, 1990, fear spread around Kenya. It stretched from the capital, where the opposition had called demonstrations to press for a multi-party system and constitutional changes, right into rural areas.
When a lorry carrying packed milk, under a now long-discarded school-feeding scheme, approached a rural schoolyard during a break, schoolchildren ran into their classrooms because the black stacked crates looked suspiciously like the helmets of armed police.
Some schoolchildren were picked up by their parents from school, too anxious about their safety to let them stay in school.
Opposition leaders and their supporters were beaten up and arrested on the streets by police, forcing some to flee into foreign embassies and into exile in the ensuing crackdown by security forces.
What should Africa do about Zimbabwe?
When Kenya played Zimbabwe in last Saturday’s World Cup qualifying game, the chant of “Mugabe must go” echoed around the stadium from some 36,000 Kenyan fans as Zimbabwe’s football team came onto the pitch.
Africa’s leaders have tended to take a much less vocal approach to Zimbabwe’s crisis.
