Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 6 July 2017

Mosul: Zimbabwe’s 93-year-old leader

Tensions rise between Iraqi forces, civilians woos youth in latest campaign

By FARAI MUTSAKA disputed 2013 election.
By SUSANNAH GEORGE a more than kilometer- down to his underwear, Associated Press Instead more youth are
MOSUL, Iraq (AP) — “Don’t long (half-mile) trek on foot staggered toward the sol- HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) on the streets, including
stop!” the Iraqi special over mounds of rubble in diers. — Zimbabwe’s 93-year- university graduates who
forces lieutenant yelled 115-degree (47-degree “I recognize him from the old president is courting sell candy, fruit and sec-
as a wave of fleeing civil- Celsius) heat. Daesh propaganda vid- the young as he makes ondhand phones on the
ians trudged past his posi- Many civilians are believed eos!” special forces Lt. Fad- a pitch for a fresh five- sidewalk. Zimbabwe’s
tion in Mosul’s Old City in still trapped in the IS-run en- hel Hadad yelled as two year term ahead of next number of formally em-
the scorching heat. “Don’t clave, with around 1,500 soldiers grabbed the man year’s election. Presi- ployed people has fallen
dent Robert Mugabe, from 2 million in 2000 to
accused by critics of hu- 500,000 today, the ma-
man rights abuses and jority of them employed
running down this once- in government, Finance
prosperous southern Af- Minister Patrick China-
rican country since tak- masa told parliament in
ing power in 1980, is on a April. The president has
nationwide blitz to woo a responded by preaching
youthful generation most self-reliance.
affected by the econom- “Send those asking for
ic meltdown. jobs to me. I will laugh at
Mugabe, the world’s old- them first. Youths should
est head of state, has be working for them-
launched a series of well- selves,” Mugabe told a
attended events called rally in the southeastern
“presidential youth in- city of Masvingo on June
terface rallies.” Some 30.
opposition members “Keep chickens, grow
point to his advanced mushrooms,” he add-
age as the reason why ed, promising farmland,
youth should reject him. houses and support for
But Mugabe’s support- “small-scale projects.”
ers think otherwise. “Do Crowds could not fit into
Fleeing Iraqi civilians walk past the heavily damaged al-Nuri mosque as Iraqi forces continue you want five-year-old a 15,000-seat stadium in
their advance against Islamic State militants in the Old City of Mosul, Iraq, Tuesday, July 4, 2017. whiskey or 20-year-old the eastern city of Mutare
(AP Photo/Felipe Dana) whiskey? Mugabe is whis- during a June 16 rally.
key of the highest qual- “I had to come, other-
pretend you’re tired! Keep fleeing with every 100-me- and sat him on the side of ity, that’s the whiskey we wise I will be left out of
going!” Nearby, dozens of ter (yard) advance by Iraqi the road. Hadad began want. It’s tasty, it gives us the projects,” said one
women and children, their forces. Those emerging questioning him, but the wisdom, it’s mature,” said Mugabe supporter who
hands raised, dropped their from the Old City at this man made motions that he 45-year-old Cabinet min- travelled more than 150
bags for security forces to late stage in the fight were was unable to speak. ister and businessman, kilometers (93 miles) to
search. Keeping the crowd weak, injured, gaunt and “Don’t pretend you are too Supa Mandiwanzira. attend. Such projects
at a distance, the soldiers pale. For months, the dis- tired to speak. Give him “Here on earth there is an include land and small
yelled at the women to roll trict has been bombarded water and he’ll speak,” Ha- angel called Robert Ga- businesses such as chick-
up their sleeves and empty by Iraqi artillery and cut off dad said. briel Mugabe. When you en farming sponsored by
everything they were carry- from food and water. Iraqi soldiers increasingly people go to heaven, the government and rul-
ing. The fight for Mosul is taking accuse civilians still inside don’t be surprised to see ing party. The president
“We know you’re Daesh,” a “devastating” toll on the the Old City of being rela- Robert Gabriel Mugabe also has embraced the
the soldiers said, using the Old City’s residents, Doc- tives of IS fighters. Some 300 standing next to god Jamaican-influenced
Arabic acronym for the Is- tors Without Borders said in militants are estimated to helping vet those who dancehall music popular
lamic State group. a statement Wednesday. be inside a 500-square-me- should enter heaven,” with Zimbabwe’s youths,
Tensions have escalated in Only a “fraction ... who re- ter (600-square-yard) sliver said Kudzai Chipanga, even though he previous-
the final days of the battle quire medical attention are of territory. the ruling ZANU-PF party’s ly expressed dislike for it.
for Mosul, as suicide bomb- receiving it, and many are “We know they are all Dae- youth leader. “In Jamaica, the men are
ings carried out mostly dying on the battlefield,” sh families, but what do we Veterans of the 1970s lib- always high and universi-
by women hiding among the humanitarian organiza- do, kill them all?” said a eration war who formed ties are full of women. The
groups of civilians target tion warned. special forces solider, Amar the pillar of Mugabe’s men want to sing and do
Iraqi forces closing in on the One man with a frac- Tabal, stationed deeper in- rule are aging, and many not go to colleges, some
last few hundred square tured leg was carried out side the Old City. are now at odds with the of them twist their hair.
meters (yards) of territory IS Wednesday by a relative, Women and children who president over his long Let us not go there,” he
controls. surgical metal pins pro- aren’t found to be carry- stay in office. said in 2012.
At least one such attack truding through the white ing weapons are allowed Like much of Africa, Zim- “ZANU-PF is desperate
struck Wednesday. bandages. A small girl, her to pass. Men and boys go babwe’s young popu- for the youth vote. The
At a screening center, se- head wrapped in gauze, through a much more strin- lation is growing and a war veterans have aged,
curity forces detained boys walked past the soldiers gent process: Their iden- powerful draw for po- many have died. They
as young as 14 they ac- holding her mother’s hand. tity cards are checked and litical parties. The major- are no longer too use-
cused of belonging to IS Another man approached those with documents not ity here are unemployed ful,” said political analyst
and barred the elderly and on crutches, his right leg issued in Mosul or whose and relying on street Gabriel Shumba, chair-
sick from stopping to rest missing below the knee, name appears on a da- vending for survival. man of the South Africa-
during the difficult journey the stump bandaged. tabase are held for further Mugabe promised 2.2 based Zimbabwe Exiles
out of the war-torn district, An elderly man, stripped questioning.q million jobs ahead of the Forum.q