16/11/2017 Outside Source

Hello, this is Outside Source. Still

under has a rest, the Zimbabwean

President Robert Mugabe meets a

military general and South African

mediators as the Army retains

control of the country -- house

arrest. More women accuse Republican

Senate candidate Roy Moore of

molesting them when they were

teenagers as allegations against the

Alabama Judge mad. One year after he

took up his post the UN

secretary-general talks to the BBC

about the situation in Yemen.

Our

capacity to bring people together

and create conditions for peace is

limited.

You can always get in touch

using our hashtag.

Hello, welcome to Outside Source.

Again tonight we start in Zimbabwe.

In particular with this image which

has come into the newsroom just

hours ago. It is of course of the

president of Zimbabwe, Robert

Mugabe. He is standing next to the

man who has placed him under house

arrest. They've been holding talks

in Harare but we don't know the

outcome of the talks. So we don't

know if that means President Mugabe

will step down or not. Meanwhile on

the streets of the country, in

particular the capital, there are

still troops but the situation is

being described as calm at the

moment. Meanwhile other countries

are becoming involved in what is

happening in Zimbabwe. South Africa

has sent a special envoys. They were

in the talks in Harare. In another

emergency meeting, in Botswana, the

Southern African development

community has its own emergency

meeting and we received an update

about this particular meeting which

ended with the recommendation of an

extraordinary emergency summit.

Frankly, another meeting, following

that meeting. It is to be attended

by all heads of state. In other

words we really have no decision

yet. Let's get the very latest. My

colleague Ben Brown is in Zimbabwe.

No real decisions yet from the

meeting that Robert Mugabe held?

We

don't exactly know what's going on

inside those talks. It is

fascinating. You have what looks

like a coup d'etat, a military

takeover, and then suddenly today we

see these pictures of the man who

led that military takeover, whatever

you want to call it, the commander

of the Zimbabwean defence forces,

General Constantine Ojha Wenger,

sitting on a sofa with Mr Mugabe.

They both seem to be smiling and

looking relaxed. We don't know

exactly what they are talking about.

South African mediators were there,

to try to mediate. One school of

thought says Mr Mugabe is trying to

cling on to power, he's had power

for 70 years, he's a wily fox and

nobody would bet against him getting

out of this. A lot of reports on the

other hand suggest that what he is

trying to do now is get some of

safety and security for him and his

family way he would step down in an

orderly process and there would be a

new transitional government with his

former vice president, now his

president and also Morgan

Tsvangirai, the Leader of the

Opposition movement, as Prime

Minister.

Fascinating. What of

Robert Mugabe's wife, Grace.

Grace

's decades younger than her husband.

She is really the reason this

happened. The military was fed up

with her, this is up power struggle

within the ruling Zanu-PF movement.

It was a struggle with the former

prior vice president, Emmerson

Mnangagwa, that has brought this to

a boil. The military side with him,

President Mugabe wanted her, it

seems, effectively to take over when

he died. So there was this power

struggle within Zanu-PF. That's why

the military stepped in now. If you

talk to people on the streets in

Zimbabwe, a lot of people are

quietly hoping that this will mean

real change, that Zimbabwe is now at

a crossroads. Although they are now

wondering that even if Mugabe goes,

would this man, Emmerson Mnangagwa,

his former vice president, who was

also a fighter alongside Robert

Mugabe, who has been accused by many

of carrying out massacres in

Matabeleland in years gone by, would

he be that much better? So that are

huge questions still to be answered

here in Zimbabwe.

Of course Ben.

Thank you very much for the time

being. As Ben said, a lot of

developments. Keep up to date with

every moment of what is happening.

Our online team have been talking

about the different issues. They've

put together a life page so all the

different reactions are coming

together and we are following all

the different tweets like this,

following the dream of a more

prosperous future. This is something

Andrew Harding, my colleague, has

been looking at. He says it's hard

to find anyone who wants President

Mugabe to stay on.

Everyone is

feeling this enormous sense of

anticipation. They believe that

President Robert Mugabe, the only

man they have ever known in charge

of this country, is on the cusp of

stepping down so there is this

feeling that people want to

celebrate, and yet so many people

have learned the hard way that

politics is a very dangerous

business. People get arrested and

disappear, the beatings and

killings. This has been a reality in

Zimbabwe for many years. So people

are waiting. They are waiting for it

to become official. They are waiting

either for the president to go on TV

and announces resignation or perhaps

Emmerson Mnangagwa, his former

busted deputy, now back on the back

of this military coup, to go on TV

himself and say it's over. And then

I think we will see people relaxing

and perhaps taking to the streets to

mark this extraordinary moment.

So a

lot of different possible scenarios.

We do get a sense from Andrew that

headlines like these are not ones

that many people in Zimbabwe thought

they would ever see. So if Robert

Mugabe does resign, who will take

over? As Ben was saying, one of the

main people was this sacked vice

president, Emmerson Mnangagwa. He is

with the Zanu-PF and is thought to

have engineered the army takeover.

From what the African union says,

his taking office could actually

satisfy regional powers who don't

want instability in Zimbabwe.

Earlier the chief of the African

union said that while they respect

the constitution, we want to return

to order and will never accept the

military coup d'etat. They added

that they know that there are

internal problems which need to be

solved but not with an army

intervention. Now for many people

one Zanu-PF leader taking over from

another will not be good enough. A

leader of one of the opposition

parties is concerned that they are

not involved in the talks that

result the images from.

We have a

constitution, you can become the

leader of the country, that would be

against the constitution. The coup

itself was a conflagration of the

constitution. Certainly the Southern

African community, which is

negotiating, cannot be party to an

attempt to deconstruct and

delegitimise the constitution. What

is key is for a road map to be

designed to restore legitimacy in

this country. It must be a clear

signpost that leads to a free, fair,

and contested election.

It is the

hope that if a free election does

not happen because of these events

is another possibility is a

negotiated transitional government.

The main opposition party says it

would consider being part of one.

Morgan Tsvangirai leads the MDC. He

is a long-time rival to President

Mugabe.

Mr Mugabe needs to resign,

stepped down in line with national

sentiment and expectation, taking

full regard of his legacy and the

contribution to Zimbabwe. The baby

in negotiated, all inclusive

transitional mechanism, -- that

there be a negotiated transitional

mechanism, we emphasise

transitional, and that the nature

and character of this mechanism be

agreed upon by all national

stakeholders.

Morgan Tsvangirai.

Check out our live web page. We've

got lots more to come on Outside

Source including the United Nations

warning that untold thousands of

people in Yemen could starve if the

Saudi led blockade against the

country is not fully lifted. The BBC

has an exclusive interview with the

Saudi Foreign Minister and we will

hear from the United nation 's

Secretary General.

Five months after the Grenfell Tower

fire the Metropolitan Police believe

that the number of people known to

have died in the tragedy is 71, that

includes a baby stillborn in

hospital after his mother escaped.

Detectives began the investigation

in the summer with a list of 400

missing people. The final two

victims were formally identified

today, they have been named as

Victoria King and her daughter

Alexandra Atala. The police officer

leading the investigation describes

what happened.

When I went into

Grenfell Tower a few days after the

fire had been pulled out, having

seen it with my own eyes, I honestly

thought it was likely we would not

find everybody who had died. I am so

pleased that the families and loved

ones of all those that have died

that we have been able to find all

those who have died, recover them,

identify them, return as much as we

possibly could back to their

families.

Welcome to Outside Source live from

the BBC News. Our lead story, he is

still under house arrest, Robert

Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe is

a military general and South African

mediators as the Army retains

control of the country. Other

stories making the news across the

BBC, more than 50 people injured in

a rare earthquake in South Korea,

the magnitude, 5.4 earthquake is the

second strongest ever recorded in

the country. It hit south-eastern

port city on Wednesday and there

were more than 40 after-shocks. The

government of Peru has declared a

public holiday to celebrate the

national football team becoming the

32nd and final qualifier for next's

football World Cup finals in Russia.

The final whistle saw exuberant

celebrations in the capital after a

2-0 win over New Zealand. It's the

first time they have qualified for

the finals since 1982. And

remarkably Japanese train company

has apologised after one of its

Tokyo commuter trains left the

station 20 seconds early! These

companies pride themselves on

punctuality both arrivals and

departures, that statement gave

deepest apologies for the early

running, saying that the driver

failed to check the time.

In the US state of Alabama the

embattled Republican candidate Roy

Moore has defied calls to stand

aside after allegations of sexual

assault. In the last half hour at

the White House intervened for the

first time and this is what the

press secretary Sara Huckabee

Sanders said.

The president believes

that these allegations are very

troubling and should be taken

seriously. He thinks the people of

Alabama should make the decision on

who the next Senator should be.

He

believes Roy Moore should stay in?

The president said earlier this week

that if the allegations are true

then Ryan Moore should step aside

all is still firmly believes that.

-- Roy Moore.

Mitch McConnell the

senior Republican has called for Roy

Moore to step aside. This was Roy

Moore's tweet in response to that,

he said bring it on. It kind of

speaks for itself. We can go now to

Alabama. Print us up to date. We've

had the first words from the White

House. -- bring us up to date?

The

president did issue a statement

earlier in the week, this is a more

of a clarification that nothing more

from the president himself. He spoke

yesterday and didn't mention this

after his Asia trip. Fundamentally

the White House saying that these

allegations are troubling and should

be taken seriously. On the other

hand, saying, we will leave it to

the people of Alabama to decide the

fate of Ryan Moore. A contrast

perhaps to the Republican leadership

in the Senate, Mitch McConnell

saying he should step aside. The

White House hasn't said that

emphatically. In the last few

moments the Alabama Republican

steering committee has issued a

statement saying they are standing

behind Roy Moore. They met yesterday

to decide whether or not they should

take any sort of action. They could

have decertified him as a candidate.

But they have weighed in this

evening, saying they fully support

his candidacy, and not long ago we

did hear from Roy Moore. He was

speaking at an event with faith

leaders. He emphatically denied the

allegations, eight women have now

come forward alleging sexual

misconduct, these are historic

allegations yet Ryan Moore

emphatically denied those

allegations. He said he was not

going anywhere and did not intend to

quit the race. He said, I'll quit

standing when they put me in a box

and Lamy in the ground.

You've

spoken to the voters and they are

predominantly emphatically

supportive of Ryan Moore, aren't

they.

It depends, I was in

Montgomery yesterday and spoke to a

group of Republican voters there

very outspoken in the support of

him, questioning the allegations,

asking why the women are making

these allegations when the alleged

assaults took place years ago and

they believe it could be applied by

the Democrats to undermine the

candidacy of Mr Moore. Today I am in

Birmingham, Alabama I spoke to some

Republican voters earlier and every

one of those said they believed that

Ryan Moore should step aside. When I

ask, does that mean they would vote

for Democrats next month, some of

them said that they were not sure.

That could be the issue in terms of

whether he does well or not. Some of

these voters on the fence said they

would rather vote for a Republican

like a Ryan Moore or a Democrat. The

latest polls we saw suggested that

the Democratic candidate, Debbie

Jones, was doing quite well, he was

even put a hat which was astonishing

because Alabama is a solidly

Republican state.

Thank you very

much. Another US politician fighting

for his political career is the

Democrat Al Franken. He has

apologised to a woman, a TV host,

who alleges that Al Franken groped

her as she slept. She published this

picture together with an article

that she road alongside Ed for the

radio station K ABC. She claims the

senator forcibly kissed her day ring

a rehearsal for a comedy skit. --

during a rehearsal. These

allegations date back to the

thousand six when Al Franken, then a

comedian, was on a tour of the

Middle East with the TV host. They

were entertaining Army personnel. In

the article she says that she could

not believe it, he groped her

without her consent while she was

sleeping, adding how dare anybody

grab her breasts and think it is

funny. It is important to say that

Al Franken has responded, saying

that he doesn't remember the

rehearsal, one of the two

allegations, in the same way but he

does send his sincere apologies to

Leanne. He suggests that it was

meant to be funny, it clearly was

not, he says he should not have done

it. A full length apology from Al

Franken can be found online. I spoke

to our Washington correspondent and

asked if Al Franken could survive

this. You have to say this in the

context of the Me Too campaign were

a lot of leading men have been

accused of sexual assault, and in

the light of the Roy Moore

controversy which we've heard about,

a lot of Democrats have come out and

condemned Roy Moore to say that he

should withdraw from the race, many

Republicans as well, and that he

shouldn't be seated in the Senate if

he wins that race. So now the

Democrats are in a difficult

position where they have to talk

about one of their own, facing this

type of accusation. This could be

challenging for Al Franken, he has

apologised and taken responsibility

for this. A lot of politicians, both

Democrats and Republicans, think

this should be handled by an ethics

committee investigation in Congress.

We haven't yet heard any Democrats

call for Al Franken to resign. At

least not Democratic officeholders.

We've heard some liberal pundits,

saying this is a chance for the left

to show that they should put their

money where their mouth is. We were

speaking about Ryan Moore in

Alabama, he has called into question

Mitch McConnell's reaction to the

allegations against Al Franken. He's

brought them together.

I'm looking

at a tweet that he sent out a couple

of hours ago, saying let's just

investigate Al Franken. When it

comes to Ryan Moore he says there is

zero evidence, the allegations were

rejected, yet Mitch says that Ryan

Moore must quit. These allegations

have yet to be disproved that the

article, in the Washington Post, was

substantiated in talking to people

who need the accusers. That will be

a strategy taken by Ryan Moore,

saying he is being handled

differently than Mitch McConnell, at

to get him in particular.

Anthony in

Washington, we can follow him on

Twitter.

The United Nations has appealed for

an urgent blockade on Yemen to be

lifted. They say thousands of

people, including children will die

if the blockade is not lifted. Yemen

has been devastated by a war between

the internationally recognised

government backed by a Saudi led

coalition and the Houthi rebels

backed by Iran. And after a rocket

was fired towards the Saudi capital

towards the middle of the month said

it had and it's blockade of that

country. Now the UN wants the Saudis

to open the main seaport for aid.

Lister said has spoken to the Saudi

minister of foreign affairs in

Riyadh.

We are by far the largest

provider of humanitarian assistance,

no country has provided more aid to

Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

When will

the airport open?

When the Houthis

handed it over to the UN, as they

said they would month ago, when they

hand over the sport as they said

they would for almost a year, then

the port will be opened. -- when

they hand over the port. Other

airports in Yemen have been opened,

there are a number of ports along

the red Sea and the Arabian Sea that

open and are being used, we are

increasing capacity there. We bring

in humanitarian assistance into

Yemen, and fortunately a large

percentage of humanitarian

assistance provided by Saudi Arabia

and other countries is subject to

looting by the Houthis.

So they have

been asked to open the port because

people will die of Star Bashan if

they do not and that doesn't trouble

you, the consequences of not opening

the port -- die of starvation. The

UN has recognised your concern is

that they are saying, work with them

to open and that doesn't trouble

you, the consequences of not opening

the port -- die of starvation. The

UN has recognised your concerns that

they are saying, work with them to

open it more quickly.

The United

Nations has been trying to work with

the Houthis for almost a year for

the Houthis to hand over the port

and haven't succeeded so I think the

blame should be directed at the

Houthis, not at the coalition. What

if a ballistic missile hit London

Heathrow Airport, wouldn't you

protect your people? We have had

more than 70 ballistic missiles

launched at our country. Tens of

thousands of students who can't go

to school because of the warfare by

the Houthis. Civilians who have died

because of the attacks by the

Houthis. In any country tolerate

this? Of course not.

UN Secretary

General Antonio Guterres spoke to my

colleague about this catastrophe.

It

is not easy. We are making a lot of

effort, first trying to make sure

that the doors reopened for

humanitarian assistant because we

have enormous difficulties for

publishing in extreme danger.

Three

more UN reports talking about the

potential...

It allows for

humanitarian assistance, immediate

needs, and will be able to reach out

and go on insisting but beyond that

we need peace. We need to engage in

parties and make the parties

understand that this is a stupid war

that nobody is winning and it is a

terrible price.

So many of your

supporters say amazing things about

your ability to make deals, but

criticism, they say that his style

is to make general statements but

not to directly challenge

governments on their actions. Have

you directly challenged them on

this?

We have published a report in

which there was strong opposition,

challenging, we have no problem

challenging any government but our

objective is to create the

conditions for peace. So we had to

bring the parties together because

this is a war no one is winning and

is causing a tremendous negative

impact for both sides.

Antonio

Guterres. To shed your reaction to

that story or any of our stories,

use our hashtag on social media.

Stay with us for the next edition of

Outside Source.

In Europe the Mediterranean has made

headlines with the storms increase

and other areas, CDs and storm

clouds circling across the heart of

the Mediterranean, and across Italy,

the Balkans is while -- Seabees

storm clouds. They have had rain and

snow. This is being referred to as a

developing Harry Kane because the

winds are strung out to sea. This

nasty air of low pressure is still

with us on Friday, more strong winds

to come, I suspect it is this area

of the Mediterranean that will get

the worst of the winds and rain, so

potentially some disruption to come

on Friday, and the bad weather will

continue into Saturday as well and

by the time we get to Sunday,

slowly, I think, things will quieten

down, some very rough weather to

come across this part of the world

meanwhile across the pond fine

weather on the eastern seaboard but

if you are heading to the midwest is

a big bear of low pressure, the

weather is going downhill for the

weekend, and in the run-up to

Thanksgiving which is just days away

we will see shots of cold air

approaching the midwest and the

north-east of the United States and

there could be quite a bit of snow

around the great Lakes region.

Around the Caribbean the weather has

not been great in the east around

the Leeward Islands, bigger

downpours in Santo Domingo, and

that's likely to continue through

Friday and into Saturday. The rest

of the Caribbean is looking much

quieter. In South Asia we have seen

bigger downpours in the north-east

of India linked to this area of low

pressure, more rainfall to come to

the cause of Friday, by Saturday,

that area of cloud and rain will

start to fizzle away. That's a

round-up of the world weather, let's

look at the weather in the UK,

closer to home, and tomorrow we've

got chilly weather, the good news

is, lots of sunny spells around as

well. This is how it looks early in

the morning and as we head towards

lunchtime a lot of sunshine across

England and Wales but blustery

conditions across Scotland, wintry

showers across the hills, most areas

experiencing temperatures in single

figures but at least the weather

will be crisp and sunny the most. A

quick look into the weekend, again

fine weather that there could be

rain on the way it particularly at

towards the West later in the

weekend. Bye bye.

Hello, I'm Kasia Madera -

this is Outside Source.

Still under house arrest -

the Zimbabwean President Robert

Mugabe meets a military general

and South African mediators

as the army retains control

of the country.

The Cambodian government appears

to have a clear run in next year's

election after the main

opposition party is dissolved

by the Supreme Court.

More women accuse Republican Senate

candidate Roy Moore of molesting

them when they were teenagers,

as allegations against

the Alabama judge mount.

And remember you can

always get in touch.

The hashtag is BBCOS.

Hello, welcome to Outside Source.

In Cambodia the Supreme Court has

dissolved the country's

main opposition party.

This is important because it leaves

the government with no

significant competitor ahead

of next year's elections.

This is the moment

the announcement was made.

TRANSLATION:

The Supreme Court

announced firstly it and there's the

lawsuit of the Ministry of the

interior, secondly it decided to

dissolve the Cambodia National

Rescue Party from now on Word, and

thirdly it decided to ban 180

members of the CNRP from political

activities for five years. -- 118

members.

The official reason for doing this

is that the Cambodia

National Rescue Party,

the CNRP, the country's only

significant opposition party,

conspired with foreigners

to stage a revolution.

But the move is being described

by rights groups as a

"death of democracy" in Cambodia.

Earlier the Vice President

of the CNRP, who fled

Cambodia earlier this year,

talked about what it

meant to her party.

It has put a blow, a strong blow,

the democracy in Cambodia, but today

the democratic movement in Cambodia

is stronger together. Together,

stronger than ever. We will move on

towards our main goal. The people of

Cambodia voted for the Cambodia

National Rescue Party, the

opposition party, 3 million, more

than that, voted, and we are the

only credible opposition in Cambodia

and we will continue to walk toward

our main goal, which is change for

Cambodia.

This is the prime minister, Hun Sen.

He's been in power since 1985.

And this move is just the latest

in a series of increasingly

authoritarian measures he's taken

ahead of elections next year.

In September this man,

the leader of the CNRP,

was arrested on a treason charge.

One of Cambodia's main independent

newspapers, the Cambodia Daily,

was also forced to close.

The BBC's Jonathan Head has tweeted.

"So Hun Sen has dispensed

with opposition and shut down

the CNRP - in the past he's been

confident enough of winning

elections without such

a drastic step."

Of course he knows about this all

very well.

Of course he knows

about this all very well.

One reason he might be worried,

the last election in 2013 gave

the government 68 seats -

but the CNRP got 55,

and that was with them disrupting

the results, saying the process had

serious irregularities.

Nga Pham is a South East Asia

analyst for the BBC -

I asked her why Hun Sen might have

done this now.

Well, I think that these

events happened and didn't

catch anyone by surprise.

We all anticipated something

like that would happen.

Many think that Hun Sen did it now

because he is not confident

that his party is going to win

next year's election.

But actually I think he does now

because he is confident

he can get away with that.

The conditions are mature for him to

actually terminate and eradicate the

position from political life in

Cambodia this time.

But he has not

done it before. Was he slightly

shocked by the result of the last

election, how well the opposition

did?

I think he was actually quite

surprised that the opposition party,

the Cambodia National Rescue Party,

was that popular. I actually went to

Cambodia after the election and

attended a few rallies. I also spoke

to Sam Rainsy, the former president,

and Mu Sochua, and I could see how

popular they were. The Cambodia

National Rescue Party was extremely

popular, especially among the young

population who want to change.

Obviously Hun Sen site as a

challenge, and now when he can he

just is determined to eradicate them

-- he saw it as a challenge.

It is

also a question of money as well as

one of the election.

As the journalist Kevin

Doyle points out...

"Aid without accountability:

"Billions of aid dollars have been

spent on supporting Cambodians

to develop a democratic system that

respects the rule of law

and basic human rights."

But now, with more Chinese

investment into the country,

Cambodia is no longer as reliant

on Western support.

Here's Nga again.

Western countries, especially

the United States, spend billions

of dollars trying to help

the reconstruction of Cambodia

after the genocide, but also

they wanted to help Cambodia develop

a democratic society

and the democratisation

process inside the country.

Now it seems not in

need of that any more.

Just a few days ago,

I remembered the picture

of Hun Sen and Donald Trump,

where they were smiling and making

that thumbs up sign together,

but inside, Hun Sen actually sent

a message to the US

saying, don't interfere

with our internal affairs -

we don't need your money that much.

So what happens in the election, if

there is no credible opposition?

Well obviously one of his answers is

that the ruling party is going to

win, and they are going to win big.

But the reaction of the

international communities and

foreign countries, it is something

that we are awaiting to see.

What Western countries are going to

say, what the United States is going

to say, because at the end of the

day it is also the desire of the

population there, that they have

developed and democratic society.

Nga will keep us up-to-date with any

information that does come from

there. But we will now turn to the

Winter Olympics.

Russia could still be

barred from competing

in the Winter Olympics

in Pyeongchang in February.

The World Anti-Doping Agency,

that's WADA, said the country had

not done enough to address

allegations of widespread cheating.

WADA says it's currently

maintaining a suspension,

which was put in place when a report

accused Russia of systematic,

state-sponsored doping.

WADA president, Sir Craig Reedie,

explains this decision.

They have come a very long way. We

have given them permission to start

testing. They are doing effective

testing, trained in anti-doping

control officers, however because of

the nature of the accusations

against them part of the road map

contains two particular conditions

they have not fulfilled, firstly to

acknowledge the report from Richard

McLaren, indicating the people that

were involved, and secondly, we

would like to have access to the

Moscow laboratory to look at the

samples and the electronic records

that are there. Neither of these two

have been fulfilled.

That was so

Craig Lee day. -- Ready, and

although they have done a lot, he

says those are the key reasons that

they have not changed their

decision.

When it comes to what comes next,

Moscow has had some strong

opinions, as Oleg from BBC Russia

now explains.

The officials are slightly lower on

the wrong of command. They said they

were improving their activities so

much and these two outstanding

points, namely that acceptance of

the McLaren conclusion, that there

was a state-run doping programme, as

well as access for the samples that

are now under Russian investigation.

Whilst now this aid is outside of

their control, but all the other

point on the so-called road map are

being fulfilled. Of course for

Russians now this is a little bit of

an exercise and forced optimism.

They say they still hope they will

rule positively as far as Russian

admittance to the Olympic Games

goal.

Oleg from Moscow. -- Olympic

Games go. Don't forget you can get

more details on our website. Plenty

of coverage of that crisis in

Zimbabwe, so do check that out.

Back to Zimbabwe- and we can

have a look at how the papers

in the country are covering

the change of government.

BBC Monitoring's Sammy Maina has

been watching from Nariobi.

The press in Zimbabwe, it normally

tours the Government line, but what

we are observing at the moment,

since the military takeover -- it

normally toes the government line.

They have been taking a new line,

the army line, but the most striking

thing is the absence of certain

questions about what the Army is

doing. When I looked for example at

the government's on daily, the

Herald today, it says business as

usual. It went on to say that

Zimbabweans went on about their

daily chores yesterday with shops,

banks and the transport system

working as normal.

It needs to be remembered that in

Zimbabwe Draconian laws require

journalists to be accredited by a

state appointed commission. Police

regularly arrest and deport foreign

journalists. Looking at the private

press, for their part, they are more

daring. They are now speaking about

the possible end of Robert Mugabe's

37 year rule. For example, that he

two financial Gazette, it says

Zimbabwe is smiling at the end of an

era. -- the Financial Gazette. And

Mnangagwa mentioned, who knows it

could have been the end of an era,

and they put that as a 37-year-old

error, as opposed to an era. Maybe

the media environment will improve.

We will see if we can see press

freedom improving, and probably, you

know, the press would be free to

probe more on what is happening.

But

I have to say and clarify that

was

likely the army might not be happy

if, for example, the media starts

questioning some of their actions.

So it is not clear what we have

there.

Sammy Maina going through

some of the reaction from the papers

there in Zimbabwe.

One country keeping a beady eye

on developments is China.

It is Africa's biggest trading

partner - and shares especially

strong bond with Zimbabwe.

Here is president Mugabe meeting

Xi JIning are meeting,

looking pally there at

the China-Africa summit

in Johanesburg a couple of years ago

- and this is how Mugabe summed

up their relationship

between the nations.

This is how Robert Mugabe saw their

relationship.

They go much deeper

than resources. We are looking to

strengthen the multifaceted

relations between African countries

and China.

Well, the events of the

last 48 hours in Zimbabwe have been

a prominent feature in China's

mainstream foreign affairs press.

Generally speaking, they are being

pretty upbeat about the whole thing.

This tweet from leading state

newspaper Global Times summs it up.

They suggest this will bring new

opportunities to China, in fact. And

the image they are, just to run that

home, a ray of sunshine.

China specialist Kerry Allen

from BBC Monitoring to explain.

A lot of press coverage in China

this morning, specifically with

foreign media, foreign affairs

specialist media in China, the

newspapers like Global Times and

Reference News headlining with what

has been going on in Zimbabwe, but

actually the sense in the Chinese

media is it is being quite played

down. A lot of the papers, they have

not called this

a, and they have

actually been saying that the Army

peacefully took over Zimbabwe. The

military are very keen to stress

they have not staged a coup, so it

looks like the Chinese press are

following that?

They are, but one

thing coming out very strongly in

the media is that people are safe.

One of the newspaper headlines

today, Global Times, it English

edition had a picture of a tank on

its front cover but actually in the

foreground you can see a child

walking to school, and they appear

to be safe. They are walking by

themselves, not with their parents.

And on social media a lot of people

have been talking about their

concerns about the Chinese people

based within Zimbabwe, and whether

or not they are safe, but this has

been alleviated by official media by

saying that people can take

precautions within Zimbabwe by

ringing the embassy.

Kerry

precautions within Zimbabwe by

ringing the embassy.

Kerry, of

course it is important to stress

just how important Zimbabwe is for

Africa and for China, the amount

they invest in that particular

country.

Absolutely, Zimbabwe and

China, their relationship has been

long-standing, actually going back

to the late 70s, and specifically

since the early 2000s, 2003,

relations with Robert Mugabe were

extremely strong, particularly on

trade. So China, I mean China has a

large expansion plan anyway with

Africa. There is a lot of trade, not

just in Zimbabwe but in the wider

continent, so China sees this

relationship is crucial and has been

trying to tell people this morning

not to be concerned about their own

investment interests within the

country.

That was Kerry Allen, and

this has been Outside Source. Thanks

very much