Mugabe says may bar Western investors over sanctions

HARARE (Reuters) - Anglo American Platinum, the world's largest miner of the metal, has agreed to transfer 51 percent of its Unki mine in Zimbabwe to locals, the firm said on Thursday, following pressure from President Robert Mugabe's government. Mugabe is championing a controversial law which requires foreign-owned firms, mostly mines and banks, to surrender majority stakes in their Zimbabwean operations to local blacks.

President Robert Mugabe said Wednesday that he and his partners in Zimbabwe's unity government agreed that "sanctions must go", a day after the European Union extended its restrictions on the country."We are in agreement," Mugabe told reporters after a tourism conference in Harare. "We are all agreed that the sanctions must go."Mugabe and his erstwhile rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai formed a unity government nearly a year ago, aiming to end political unrest targeting mainly supporters of the premier's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

South African fusion band Freshlyground have been barred from performing in Zimbabwe after releasing a video that pokes fun at long-time President Robert Mugabe, a newspaper report said Sunday.Freshlyground, the band that performed with Shakira on World Cup theme song "Waka Waka", were scheduled to play in Harare on October 1, but immigration officials revoked their work permits after the release of their video "Chicken to Change", the Sunday Times reported.

Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has backed President Robert Mugabe's stance against including gay rights in a new constitution, state media reported Friday.The two were speaking at a belated celebration in a Harare suburb Thursday of International Women's Day, which was on March 8.Mugabe reiterated his opposition to rights for gays, whom he has described as "worse than pigs and dogs"."I heard the issue was being raised at the constitution making process," Mugabe said. "Those who do it, we will say, they are wayward. It is just madness, insanity."

HARARE (Reuters) - Swiss food company Nestle has suspended operations in Zimbabwe, complaining of harassment after it pulled out of a deal to buy milk from a farm taken over by President Robert Mugabe's family.

Since we first started discussing the new frontier of investment (or economic hitmen), Africa has been appearing more and more in the headlines - from labor conditions in the South to military action in the North. Natural resources and leverageable assets remain key as the infamous Zimbabwean 'dictator' Robert Mugabe, fighting for re-election at the age of 89, maintains that Zimbabwe's difficulties stem from a Western plot to re-colonize it.

By 2010-09-30T11:17:38Z HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- President Robert Mugabe says investors who don't accept black Zimbabweans as the major shareholders in their projects can stay away from the southern African nation....