South Sudan Gets new Coalition Government

Associated Press JUBA, South Sudan (AP) -  South Sudan has opened a new chapter in its fragile emergence from civil war with rival leaders forming a coalition government. Opposition leader Riek Machar was sworn in Saturday as the deputy of President Salva Kiir, a day after the previous government was dissolved. That power arrangement between Kiir and Machar twice collapsed in fighting during the conflict that began in 2013 and killed nearly 400,000 people. Numerous attempts at peace in South Sudan have failed. Intense international pressure has followed the most recent peace deal in 2018. The rivals met the latest deadline to form the government.

Fire at Haitian Orphanage Kills 15 Babies and Toddlers

 PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -  Officials say a fire swept through a Haitian children's home run by a Pennsylvania-based religious nonprofit group, killing 15 children. A child-care worker at the home told The Associated Press that the fire began around 9 p.m. Thursday and firefighters took about 90 minutes to arrive. She said the orphanage had been using candles for light due to problems with its generator. Late Friday afternoon, police raided another home also run by the Church of Bible Understanding and took away several dozen children in a bus over protests from employees. The Associated Press has reported on a long-standing series of problems at children's homes run by the group.

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Africa Braces for Coronavirus

Crowded hospital in Uganda

LUSAKA, Zambia — At a Chinese-run hospital in Zambia, some employees watched as people who recently returned from China showed up with coughs but were not placed in isolation. A doctor tending to those patients has stopped coming to work, and health workers have been ordered not to speak publicly about the new virus that has killed hundreds around the world.

The virus that has spread through much of China has yet to be confirmed in Africa, but global health authorities are increasingly worried about the threat to the continent where an estimated 1 million Chinese now live, as some health workers on the ground warn they are not ready to handle an outbreak.

Countries are racing to take precautions as hundreds of travelers arrive from China every day. Safeguards include stronger surveillance at ports of entry and improved quarantine and testing measures across Africa, home to 1.2 billion people and some of the world’s weakest systems for detecting and treating disease

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Ethiopian Airlines Cuts flights to China

Ethiopian Airlines Plene

Globally, coronavirus has claimed 725 lives with almost all deaths occurring in mainland China. The disease has also been detected in 24 other countries, most times involving people who traveled to China. While to date there have been no confirmed cases in Africa, the risk of an outbreak remains high.

Amidst rising criticism of Ethiopian Airlines’ continued flights to and from China, the airline has cut down its February weekly flights from Addis to Beijing, Chengdu, Guanzhou and Shanghai by 33%. It has also changed its aircrafts on the Addis to Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai routes from Boeing 777 and A350 to Boeing 787-8 resulting in a 20%-45% change in capacity on the different flights.

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Tanzania Government Not Officially Notified about U.S. Travel Ban

Map of Tanzania

Tanzania says has not been officially notified about U.S. Travel Ban

DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - Tanzania said on Saturday it had not been officially notified by the United States about a travel ban after it was targeted alongside five other countries by President Donald Trump’s expanded travel restrictions on Friday.

Of the six new countries slapped with travel restrictions, four are African nations and three have Muslim-majority populations.

“We don’t have official communication from the U.S. government. We haven’t received a formal diplomatic communication, which is the official way of communicating between governments,” Emmanuel Buhohela, spokesman for the ministry of foreign affairs, told Reuters.

U.S. Democrats and immigration advocates have accused the Trump administration of seeking to expand its original 2017 ban that targeted Muslim-majority countries and of disproportionately focusing on African countries.

Tanzania also has a sizeable Muslim population.

Under the new travel restrictions, the United States will stop issuing “diversity visas” to Tanzanian nationals. The visas are available by lottery for applicants from countries with low rates of immigration.

Kwa habari zaidi BOFYA HAPA:

Tanzania Added to Trump's Travel Ban

Washington (CNN)The Trump administration on Friday announced an expansion of the travel ban -- one of the President's signature policies, which has been derided by critics as an attempt to ban Muslims from the US -- to include six new countries.

Immigration restrictions will be imposed on: Nigeria, Eritrea, Tanzania, Sudan, Kyrgyzstan and Myanmar (known as Burma), with exceptions for immigrants who have helped the US.

The latest iteration comes three years after President Donald Trump -- in one of his first moves in office -- signed the first travel ban, which caused chaos at airports and eventually landed at the Supreme Court. The announcement also comes at the end of a major week for Trump with the signing of the USMCA trade deal and expected acquittal in the Senate impeachment trial.

The updated ban has already sparked controversy over its targeting of African countries with lawmakers and advocates calling the changes discriminatory and without merit.

The administration has argued that the travel ban is vital to national security and ensures countries meet US security needs, by requiring a certain level of identity management and information sharing requirements.

In 2018, the Supreme Court upheld the third version of the travel ban after the previous iterations were challenged in court. The current policy restricts entry from seven countries to varying degrees: Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, along with Venezuela and North Korea.

Restrictions on those countries will remain in place, the official said. Chad was removed from the list last April after the White House said the country improved security measures.

Unlike the original ban, the new restrictions only include categories of immigration visa applicants. Specifically, all immigrants from Burma, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan and Nigeria will be banned from the US. However, only green card lotteries will be restricted from Sudan and Tanzania, said a DHS official Friday.

KWA HABARI ZAIDI BOFYA HAPA:

President Trump with African Leaders

Sundance Film Festival Diversity!

I hope that this move will help with the quality of films that make it. The Sundance Film Festival will have a more diverse set or critics!  

Sundance Film Festival aims for more Movie Critic Diversity

  SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -  A Sundance Film Festival program designed to increase diversity among media members covering the annual event in Park City boomed in popularity in the initiative's second year. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that 51 journalists were selected this year out of a pool of 319 applicants to receive travel stipends provided in the program. More than 80% are minority journalists. Most of the chosen writers are women. About half are LGBTQ and a quarter are people with disabilities. Sundance officials created the Press Inclusion Program in 2018 after a study found two-thirds of movie critics were white men. The festival runs Jan. 23-Feb. 2.

Tanzia - Bibi Jeredina Paulo Suka Haule

Ninasikitika kutangaza kifo cha ndugu yangu, Bibi Jeredina Paulo Suka Haule, kilichotekea, Janauri 1, 2020, huko kijijini, Ilela, Manda, Tanzania. Alikuwa mama Mzazi wa Stephen Challe na Burton Challe.

Bibi Suka amekwisha lazwa katika nyumba yake ya milele. Mwenyezi Mungu ailaze roho yake mahala pema mbinguni. Amen.

Bibi Jeredina Paulo Suka Haule

October 28, 1928 to January 1, 2020

Mimi na Bibi Suka (mwenye ndoo)  kijijini Ilela mwaka 2009

Bibi Suka na baadhi ya wajukuu wake mwaka 2014

Misa ya Kumwombea Bibi Suka Kanisa Anglikana Ilela

Have a Merry Christmas!

Zilipendwa -Hum Bhi Agar Bachche Hote, Happy Birthday To You - Johnny Walker | Kids ...

Hum Bhi Agar Bachche Hote, Happy Birthday To You - Johnny Walker | Kids ...



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIpAUx73rME

US `gravely disappointed' by South Sudan coalition Government delay, will Reevaluate Relationship

By SAM MEDNICK
Associated Press

   NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - The United States said Wednesday it is "gravely disappointed" and will reevaluate its relationship with South Sudan over the failure of its rival leaders to form a coalition government according to the country's fragile peace accord.

   President Salva Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar last week agreed to postpone the formation of a coalition government for 100 days. They had faced a Nov. 12 deadline but said security and governance issues needed to be resolved.

   The State Department statement said that "their inability to achieve this basic demonstration of political will for the people of South Sudan calls into question their suitability to continue to lead the nation's peace process."

   The U.S. said it will work bilaterally and with the international community to "take action against all those impeding South Sudan's peace process." That could mean sanctions.

   South Sudan government spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny called the U.S. statement disappointing but said the government understands the U.S. position. South Sudan's government also wanted the coalition government formed on time, he said.

   "The president wasn't willing to extend until we realized the opposition was adamant to see the extension done or they'd go back to war," Ateny asserted.

   South Sudan's civil war erupted in late 2013, just two years after the country's independence from Sudan, when supporters of Kiir and Machar, then his deputy, clashed. A previous peace deal under which Machar returned as Kiir's deputy fell apart amid fresh fighting in 2016 and Machar fled the country on foot.

   South Sudan experts have warned that without a new approach, the current uneasy situation may well be the same when the 100-day period ends in February.

   The oil-rich country is slowly emerging from five years of fighting that killed almost 400,000 people and displaced millions. The fragile peace agreement signed in September 2018 has been riddled with delays and a lack of funding.

   Pope Francis on Sunday called for South Sudan's politicians to salvage the peace deal and announced he intends to visit the East African country in the coming year. In a striking gesture of concern earlier this year the pope knelt and kissed the feet of Kiir and Machar to encourage them to strengthen the faltering peace process.

UN report links Kenyan military to attacks on Somalia's largest Telecommunications provider

By TOM ODULA
Associated Press

   NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - A new United Nations report says it has corroborated evidence of five attacks allegedly carried out by Kenya's military on communication masts belonging to neighboring Somalia's largest telecom provider. One attack killed two civilians in 2018.

   The report by the U.N. panel of experts monitoring sanctions against Somalia says destroying telecommunication masts may prevent al-Shabab extremists from triggering explosives using mobile telephone signals.

   The report, made public this week, says Kenya's military denied involvement in the attacks. The military did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

   Hormuud Telecom Somalia says the attacks violate international law. The company asserts that its communications masts have been attacked 10 times by Kenya's military over the past two years.

   The attacks have caused at least $5 million in infrastructure while destabilizing communities, undermining Somalia's economic development and impeding the coordination of humanitarian efforts, a company spokesman said.

   Many people in the Horn of Africa nation long wracked by extremist attacks and climate shocks such as drought rely on remittances wired from family members in the Somali diaspora.

   The destruction of telecom infrastructure may be aimed at curtailing the transmission of intelligence on troop movements or extremist operations, Hormuud said.

   Kenya sent troops to Somalia in 2011 to fight al-Shabab, which also carries out attacks inside Kenya. As assault on a luxury hotel complex in the capital, Nairobi, in January killed 21 people.

   The new U.N. report also said the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab remain "a potent threat" to regional peace and are now manufacturing home-made explosives, expanding their revenue sources and infiltrating government institutions.

Leah Mwamoto Awaonya Wazazi wa Kilolo Wanaokatisha Masomo ya Wanafunzi

Mjumbe wa halmashauri Kuu (CCM) Mkoa wa Iringa, Leah Mwamoto akiongea na wazazi wa shule ya sekondari ya Mlafu iliyopo katika wilaya ya Kilolo mkoani Iringa

 Wanafunzi wa shule ya sekondari ya Mlafu iliyopo katika wilaya ya Kilolo mkoani Iringa wakicheza nyimbo mbele ya mgeni Rasmi

NA FREDY MGUNDA,KILOLO

Mjumbe wa halmashauri Kuu (CCM) Mkoa wa Iringa, Leah Mwamoto amewaonya wazazi wanaokatisha masomo watoto kuwa serikali itawachukulia hatua kali pindi watakapobainika kufanya kosa hilo.

Mwamoto ameongea hayo katika mahafali ya kidato cha nne katika shule ya sekondari ya Mlafu iliyopo katika kijiji cha Mlafu wilayani Kilolo alipomuwakilisha mbunge wa jimbo la Kilolo Venance Mwamoto.

Akiwaonya wazazi katika mahafali hayo Mwamoto amewaeleza wazazi juu ya mazingira mabaya wanayoyakuta watoto wanaokwenda kufanya kazi za ndani katika miji mikubwa.

Hata hivyo amewaomba watendaji wa kata kuendelea kuwafutilia watoto ili kuwaepusha kujiingiza katika mazingira hatarishi yatakayoharibu ndoto zao.

Aidha Mwamoto amepongeza uongozi wa shule ya sekondari Mlafu kwa matokeo mazuri pamoja na mbunge wa jimbo la Kilolo, Mhe Venance Mwamoto kuchangia bati 180 na mifuko 100 ya saruji kwa ujenzi wa zahanati kijiji cha Mlafu.

Awali akisoma taarifa fupi ya shule mwalimu mkuu wa shule hiyo Emmanuel Mbangwa ameomba wadau kujitokeza kuboresha mazingira katika shule hiyo hususani kujenga nyumba za walimu na mabweni.

Nae diwani Mlafu Isidory Kiyenge amewataka wazazi wa kata hiyo pamoja na wadau kuwa tayari kuchangia katika sekta ya elimu ili kuongeza mazingira ya ufaulu.

Kayenge amewataka wanafunzi kujiandaa kwa mitihani ya kidato cha nne huku alito ahadi ya kuwaandalia chakula wakati wa mitihani.

Please Help Lay Boston Actor Charles L Jackson to Rest!

UPDATE - Charles L. Jackson was laid to rest in his family plot in Springfield, MA on Friday November 1, 2019.   may he rest in eternal peace. Amen.



Please help lay Charles Lee Jackson to rest. He died on October 7, 2019 in his apartment in Dorchester, Massachusetts. His body wasn't found until Wednesday, October 9, 2019 and his notified on October, 10, 2019. His family is struggling to put the money together to give him a proper burial. A GOFUNDME has been set up. Please help if you can. Charles did a lot of background acting work, he also did numerous play in Roxbury, and Boston. He was a father and grandfather. Rest in peace Charles (1955-2019)

https://www.gofundme.com/f/his-final-scenelaying-to-rest-charles-l-jackson

GO FUND ME FOR CHARLES L. JACKSON

The Late Charles Lee A Jackson at Revere Beach in 2011.  

Tanzia - Charles Lee Jackson (Actor) 1955-2019

It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that I announce the passing of my friend and acting buddy, Charles Lee Jackson aka. Mzee Matumbi. He was also a fellow member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG AFTRA). He died at his apartment in Dorchester, MA from natural causes. Funeral arrangements are pending. We will miss you Charles.

Rest in eternal peace Charles Lee Jackson 1955-2019

He did background work in several TV shows and  Hollywood movies filmed in the Boston Area.

Charles was nominated for Best Actor in a Short Film, Downbeat, at the Massachusetts Independent Film  Festival  in 2017.

You can see the Late Charles Jackson's acting chops in this short film, Downbeat. He was nominated for Best Actor in a Short film at the Massachusetts Independent Film Festival in 2017.

https://vimeo.com/210828895 Best Actor Short: Brooklyn In July - Thaddeus Daniels WINNER What Weighs Us Down - Adam Masnyk Fils (Son) - Herve Sogne Le Risque Zero - Hugues Boucher Downbeat - Charles Jackson http://www.massiff.org/2017nominees

There is no Ebola in Tanzania - Minister of Health Hon. Ummy Mwalimu

MAY GOD CONTINUE TO PROTECT THE PEOPLE OF TANZANIA FROM EBOLA! AMEN!

By TOM ODULA
Associated Press

   NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - Tanzania on Thursday rejected suspicions that it might have covered up cases of the deadly Ebola virus, calling it a plot to show the country "in a bad light."

   The health minister's comments came after the World Health Organization issued an unusual statement saying Tanzania refused to share information and the United States and Britain issued travel warnings. The current Ebola outbreak based in neighboring eastern Congo is now the second-deadliest in history with more than 2,000 people killed.

   Tanzanian Health Minister Ummy Mwalimu said there were two suspected Ebola cases last month but the East African country determined they did not have the virus.

   "Ebola is not a disease one can hide," the minister said. "Tanzania is well aware of the dangers of hiding such an epidemic."

   Global health officials had repeatedly asked Tanzania to share the results of its investigations, but Mwalimu asserted there is no need to submit a "negative sample" for further testing.

   Countries with little or no experience testing for Ebola, especially ones such as Tanzania which have never had a confirmed Ebola case, are asked to send samples to a WHO-accredited lab to confirm the initial results, no matter whether they are positive or negative.

   Tanzania's health minister said the country will follow international protocols, including reporting to WHO, "if there is an Ebola case."

   WHO has said it was made aware on Sept. 10 of the death in Tanzania's commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, of a patient suspected to have Ebola. A day later, it received unofficial reports that an Ebola test had come back positive. On Thursday, it received unofficial reports that a contact of the patient, who had traveled widely in the country, was sick and hospitalized.

   The lack of information from Tanzania made it difficult to assess potential risks, WHO said.

   A rapid response is crucial in containing Ebola, which can be fatal in up to 90% of cases and is most often spread by close contact with bodily fluids of people exhibiting symptoms or with contaminated objects.

   The initial symptoms for Ebola, including fever and pain, are similar to those of other diseases such as malaria and measles, and mistakes in diagnosis and mismanagement of patients could inadvertently allow an outbreak to spread.

   Critics have shown increasing alarm as Tanzanian President John Magufuli's government has restricted access to key information and cracked down on perceived dissent. Lawmakers recently approved an amendment to a statistics law to make it a crime to distribute information not sanctioned by the government or which contradicts the government.

   ---

   Associated Press writer Maria Cheng in London contributed.

Funeral Services for Late Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe Today

 

Late President Robert Mugabe Coffin Today

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - African heads of state joined thousands of Zimbabweans at a state funeral Saturday for Zimbabwe's founding president, Robert Mugabe , whose burial has been delayed for at least a month until a special mausoleum can be built for his remains.

   More than 10 African leaders and several former presidents attended the service and viewing of the body of Mugabe, who died last week in Singapore at age 95, at the National Sports Stadium in the capital, Harare. The crowd filling about 30% of the 60,000 capacity of the Chinese-built stadium. Most of those attending were supporters of Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF party.

   South African president Cyril Ramaphosa drew boos from the crowd, as a result of the recent attacks in Johannesburg on foreigners, including Zimbabweans. An official pleaded with the stadium crowd to let him speak. Ramaphosa apologized for the attacks.

   Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta described Mugabe as "a great icon of African liberation" and "a visionary leader and relentless champion of African dignity."

   The announcement Friday evening that that burial will be postponed until the building of a new resting place at the national Heroes' Acre Monument is the latest turn in a dramatic wrangle between Mugabe's family and President Emmerson Mnangagwa, a once-trusted deputy who helped oust Mugabe from power.

   Mnangagwa presided over Saturday's ceremony, attended by Mugabe's widow Grace, who wore a black veil.

   "A giant tree of Africa has fallen," said Mnangagwa, who hailed Mugabe as "a bold, steadfast revolutionary."

   He praised Mugabe for seizing land from white farmers. "To him, this was the grievance of all grievances of our people," Mnangagwa said. "The land has now been reunited with the people and the people have been reunited with the land." He also called on Western countries to remove sanctions imposed during Mugabe's era.

   "Go Well Our Revolutionary Icon" and "Farewell Gallant Son of the Soil" were among the banners praising Mugabe, who led the bitter guerrilla war to end white-minority rule in the country then known as Rhodesia. Mugabe was Zimbabwe's first leader and ruled the country from 1980 for 37 years, from years of prosperity to economic ruin and repression.

   He was deposed in 2017 by the military and Mnangagwa in a bloodless coup that was marked by more than 100,000 people demonstrating in Harare's streets to demand that he step down. Following Mugabe's resignation, Mnangagwa took power and won elections the next year on campaign promises he would improve the collapsed economy and create jobs. But Zimbabwe's economy has lurched from crunch to crisis and some in the crowd expressed the view that life was better under Mugabe's rule.

   "Bread was less than a dollar when we marched against him (Mugabe). It is now $9," said Munashe Gudyanga, 18. "I am just here to say `Sorry, President Mugabe, we didn't know things will be worse."'

   Some in the stadium sang an impromptu farewell to Mugabe, "When you left bread was a dollar," lyrics that implicitly criticized Mnangagwa, whose nearly two-year rule has been marked by rising prices, with inflation currently more than 175%.

   The visiting leaders viewed Mugabe's the partially open casket, followed by a 21-gun salute, a flypast by Zimbabwean air force jets and the release of 95 doves, to mark Mugabe's 95 years.

   Mugabe's body is to be viewed in his birthplace, Zvimba, on Sunday and then will be held in preservation until the new mausoleum is ready.

   In downtown Harare, many Zimbabweans were busy with their weekend errands, and expressed little interest in the funeral, which was open to the public.

   "What will I get if I go there? What will Mugabe do for me now that he failed to do when he was alive?" said Amelia Tukande, who was selling cellphone chargers along Harare's Samora Machel Avenue that leads to the stadium. "It is a waste of time. I have to work for my family."

   Others said they would have wanted to attend the funeral but cannot afford transport fares.

   "I didn't like him, but I still wanted to attend just to see for myself that he is gone ... but kombis (minivan taxis) want $3.50 just to get to the stadium," said Amos Siduna, waiting in line at a bank to get cash, which is in short supply. "That's too much money for me just to go and say `bye bye' to a corpse. Mugabe's corpse. No."

   The mourning period for Mugabe's death has been marked by the ongoing drama over where, when and how the ex-strongman will be buried. The new resting place will be built near the stadium at Heroes' Acre, a national burial site for top officials of Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF party who contributed to ending white colonial rule

   The mausoleum will be at an elevated site above the other graves, according to Mnangagwa and a Mugabe family spokesman.

   Grace had previously insisting on a private burial rather than the state funeral and burial in a simple plot alongside other national heroes planned by the government.

   "We are building a mausoleum for our founding father at the top of the hill at Heroes' Acre," Mnangagwa said on state television Friday night, consenting to the Mugabe family's wishes.

   ---

The Late President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe

Who is the Best Actress to Play Hattie McDaniel in the Biopic of her Life?

 Who do you think would be the Best Hattie McDaniel in the Bipoic about the Famous Actress Life?
Hattie McDaniel was the first African American Women to win an Oscar. She won for her role as Mammy in Gone With The Wind made in 1939.

Hattie McDaniel

Take the Poll Here:   HATTIE McDANIEL ACTRESS POLL

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Rest in Peace Robert Mugabe - Former President of Zimbabwe

The Late President Robert Mugabe (1924 -2019)

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - Robert Mugabe will be buried at a hilltop shrine reserved exclusively for Zimbabwe's ruling elite, an official said Saturday, as the southern African nation began several days of official mourning.

   Mugabe, who was 95 when he died Friday in Singapore, will be laid to rest in Harare at the National Heroes Acre, which has been set aside for Zimbabweans who have made huge sacrifices during the war against white-minority rule and who dedicated themselves to the nation, which emerged from the ashes of colonial Rhodesia.

   "Comrade Mugabe will be buried at the Heroes Acre," deputy information minister Energy Mutodi said. "That is where he deserves to rest."

   Leo Mugabe, a nephew of Robert Mugabe and a family spokesman, told The Associated Press that the date of the funeral and other details, including when Mugabe's body will arrive in Zimbabwe, weren't yet available.

   "Arrangements are not in place yet," he said in a text message.

   Located on a hilltop, and built with the help of North Korean architects, the plot has a commanding view of Harare, features a huge bronze statue of three guerrilla fighters and boasts black marble and granite flourishes.

   Mugabe is viewed by many as a national hero despite decades of rule that left the country struggling. He was an ex-guerrilla chief who took power in 1980 when Zimbabwe shook off white minority rule and presided for decades while economic turmoil and human rights violations eroded its early promise.

   Mugabe had been forced to relinquish power by a previously loyal military in November 2017.

   Flags flew at half-staff Saturday, but there were no public activities to mark the death of a man who singularly shaped the once-prosperous country in his own image and created a repressive system that some say remains even today.

   Reaction to his death was mixed, although praise ironically came mostly from ruling party officials and military leaders.

   The state-run Herald newspaper, which vilified Mugabe when he was forced to resign and when he subsequently voiced support for the opposition, carried glowing tributes.

   In a "commemorative edition," the newspaper, which often acts as a mouthpiece of the government, carried a montage of his pictures with the headline: "Robert Mugabe-1924-2019" on its front page and glowing reports throughout.

   In an editorial page, the newspaper praised Mugabe for "his uncompromising stance when it came to the rights of Africans."

   "Whatever happened towards the end of his leadership should not be used to rubbish the good things that he did during his life," the commander of the Zimbabwe Defense Forces and one of the commanders who led the military campaign to oust Mugabe after years of propping his rule, was quoted as saying in a separate story in the newspaper.

   Others were less charitable. "95 and out," read the privately-owned Newsday newspaper.

   "Despite his intellectual prowess, Mugabe's failure to let go of power when it was time was his major undoing . In short, he was a liberator who turned villain. Leaders need to know when to draw the line," said the newspaper in an editorial.

   "End of an era as Mugabe dies, leaves Zim poor, divided," read the front page headline of another privately-owned newspaper, the Daily News.

   "Notwithstanding the many mistakes that he made, many Zimbabweans will probably agree that had he not held on to power beyond the 1990s, he would today be largely remembered as one of Africa's best leaders in history," the paper said in an editorial.

   Both newspapers were major targets of Mugabe's vitriol, with editors and reporters routinely arrested during Mugabe's rule.

   On the streets of the capital, Harare, few seemed bothered as people struggled to cope with biting economic problems largely blamed by critics on Mugabe's rule and perpetuated by his successor and an ally who later turned foe, President Emmerson Mnangagwa. Mnangagwa took power in 2017 with the help of the military.

   "Who cares?" said Percy Maute, a street vendor pushing a cart full of tomatoes along a busy street named after the former president.  "I don't care. I am too busy looking for money to mourn a man who put me in this position."

   A small group of people drank beer and sang pro-Mugabe songs outside a liquor outlet and wore T-shirts with Mugabe's face. Although only a few people cared to join or commiserate with them, they danced vigorously and spoke glowingly of a man they said fought for the liberation of not just Zimbabwe, but "the rest of Africa."

   "Bob was our hero, he taught us that the white man is not a master," they sang. Mugabe was popularly known by the nickname Bob.

Tanzania has enough Giraffes - Government

   GENEVA (AP) - Nations around the world moved Thursday to protect giraffes as an endangered species for the first time, drawing praise from conservationists and scowls from some sub-Saharan African nations.

   Thursday's vote by a key committee at the World Wildlife Conference known as CITES paves the way for the measure's likely approval by its plenary next week.

   The plan would regulate world trade in giraffe parts, including hides, bone carvings and meat, while stopping short of a full ban. It passed 106-21 with seven abstentions.

   "So many people are so familiar with giraffes that they think they're abundant," said Susan Lieberman, vice president of international policy for the Wildlife Conservation Society. "And in Southern Africa, they may be doing OK, but giraffes are critically endangered."

   Lieberman said giraffes were particularly at risk in parts of West, Central and East Africa.

   The Wildlife Conservation Society said it was concerned about the multiple threats to giraffes that have already resulted in population decline, citing habitat loss, droughts worsened by climate change and the illegal killings and trade in giraffe body parts.

   The Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group, hailed the move, noting that giraffes are a vulnerable species facing habitat loss and population decline. A key African conservationist said it could help reverse drops in giraffe populations, as the move would help better track numbers of giraffes.

   "The giraffe has experienced over 40% decline in the last 30 years, said Maina Philip Muruthi of the African Wildlife Foundation. "If that trend continues, it means that we are headed toward extinction."

   Still, not all African countries supported the move.

   "We see no reason as to why we should support this decision, because Tanzania has a stable and increasing population of giraffes," said Maurus Msuha, director of wildlife at the Tanzanian Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism. "Over 50% of our giraffe population is within the Serengeti ecosystem, which is well protected. Why should we then go for this?"

   CITES says the population of wild giraffes is actually much smaller than that of wild African elephants.

   "We're talking about a few tens of thousands of giraffes and we're talking about a few hundreds of thousands of African elephants," said Tom De Meulenaar, chief of scientific services at CITES. He said the convention was intended to specifically address the international trade in giraffes and their parts.

   "With fewer giraffes than elephants in Africa, it was a no-brainer to simply regulate giraffe exports," said Tanya Sanerib, international legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity.

   The U.S. is the world's biggest consumer of giraffe products, conservationists said. Sanerib said it was important for the U.S. to act on its own as well.

   "It's still urgent for the Trump administration to protect these imperiled animals under the U.S. Endangered Species Act," she said in a statement.

   The meeting in Geneva comes after President Donald Trump's administration last week announced plans to water down the U.S. Endangered Species Ac - a message that could echo among attendees at the CITES conference, even if the U.S. move is more about domestic policy than international trade.