Mugabe approves controversial changes to Zimbabwe constitution News
Mugabe approves controversial changes to Zimbabwe constitution

[JURIST] Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe [Wikipedia backgrounder] has approved amendments to the country's constitution [JURIST report; constitution text] that allow the government to nationalize white-owned farms and impose travel bans on those deemed anti-government. Critics say the land-law changes will prevent white farmers from being able to challenge any property seizure of their land while the travel bans function as a tool to suppress opposition to the President's rule. Mugabe has been in power for 25 years and Zimbabwe's economic crisis has been blamed on his reign. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change [Contemporary Africa Database profile] has called the amendments "a serious assault on citizens' basic rights and freedoms." Reuters has more.