Zimbabwe's neighbours turned against Robert Mugabe today as pre-election violence against opposition supporters intensified and spread to new areas of the country.

Pro-government militias were reported to be hunting supporters of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) through the densely-populated townships around Harare, which had hitherto escaped the worst of the violence.

The "heavily tortured" bodies of four opposition activists were found today in the biggest Harare suburb, Chitungwiza, according to the MDC.

The wife of the mayor-elect of Harare, Abigail Chiroto, and her four-year-old son were abducted from another township, Hatcliffe, on Monday. Her body was found in nearby fields the next day and the boy was left at a police station.

The MDC say 70 of its supporters have been killed during the campaigning for next week's presidential run-off vote.

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The world has spent billions in its attempts to punish those who have perpetrated horrendous crimes against their fellow Africans. But is this effort paying off?  

(Johannesburg) - In the first, electric days after Robert Mugabe lost the opening round of Zimbabwe's presidential election, it seemed as though he might simply accept defeat and step down. His family and closest advisers were telling him that, after 28 years in office, it was time to go. He opened secret negotiations with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) on a deal that would guarantee his party a share of power, provide him with a peaceful retirement and, crucially, make him immune to prosecution for crimes committed during his long and troubled tenure

The MDC was amenable, and a tentative optimism took hold of Zimbabwe. But then, six days after the March 29 vote, Mr. Mugabe emerged from a long meeting with his "politburo" in Harare, vowing to fight a run-off election and saying he'd soon be sworn in for a sixth straight term.

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To the outside world it has become as known as Africa's First World War with its foreign armies and invasions, and ceaseless killing and dying that seems to achieve nothing. The battleground is the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where to some of those who have fought it is a matter of the very survival of nations, while to others it is the prospect of immense wealth that drives them. But what are the true roots of this conflict, and what keeps it alive?

Little more than a decade ago, the long-suffering citizens of the Democratic Republic of Congo could not have imagined their situation could get much worse.

Their brief flirtation with hope and rebirth after independence from Belgium in 1960 soon gave way to decades of decline under the derelict rule of Mobutu Sese Seko. He renamed the sprawling central African state Zaire, cloaked himself in leopard skins and African nationalism, and set about filling his bank accounts while most of those he ruled saw their country crumble around them.

Through the 1970s and 1980s, Zaire fractured into a series of city states increasingly distant from each other as roads were worn away by neglect, telephone systems collapsed and postal services ceased.

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(Cape Town) - Results of a nationwide safety audit of South African mines were "worrying" because they showed a low level of safety compliance, a top government mining official told Parliament on Wednesday.

South African President Thabo Mbeki ordered the mine safety audit in October following a series of mine accidents.

"We've been doing this presidential audit and the results will be out soon and they are worrying," Thabo Gazi, the chief inspector of mines at the Department of Minerals and Energy, told MPs during a briefing on a new mine safety Bill.

"They are really worrying because generally levels of compliance in our industry are low," Gazi said.

Gazi said the audit, which targeted 333 high-risk and targeted mines, was close to being finalised and was expected to be handed over to Mbeki in mid-July.

The audit was ordered by Mbeki after an accident last year trapped 3 200 workers at Harmony Gold's Elandsrand mine underground for close to 48 hours.

The incident highlighted mine safety issues, coming after a string of fatal accidents that, according to Gazi, has now reached a "plateau" of about 200 fatalities a year after declining from 1 000 deaths a year in 1987 to 500 in 1997.

The new Mine Health and Safety Amendment Bill, still to be debated in Parliament and signed by Mbeki before becoming law, seeks to improve safety by strengthening enforcement.

It proposes raising non-compliance fines to R1-million from R200 000, and sets timelines for mines to conduct their own accident investigations, with reports to be handed over within 30 days of an accident.

Gazi acknowledged these investigations could be controversial as mines might be loathe to incriminate themselves and expose companies to liability.

"The intention here is not to force people to incriminate themselves ... We simply want to learn from the many accidents that are happening in the industry," Gazi said, adding that many of the thousands of accidents repeated past mistakes.

He said these company-produced accident reports would not be used as a basis for legal action against employers.

Buck stops with companies

South Africa Minerals and Energy Minister Buyelwa Sonjica is on record as saying the "buck for health and safety in the mines has to stop with top management of the mining companies".

South Africa, a major producer of gold and platinum, suffered more deaths in mines last year than the year before, prompting the government to temporarily shut down mines whenever the deaths occurred, reducing mining output.

The National Union of Mineworkers staged an unprecedented one-day industry-wide strike to force companies to focus on safety in a country with the world's deepest mines.

The government said mine-worker deaths rose 11% last year to 221 from 2006, the first jump since 2002, as mine workers were killed by rockfalls, explosions or buried underground during earth tremors. -- Reuters