Supporters of President Robert Mugabe are planning the ‘best’ ever birthday party for him next month, when he will turn 92.

Preparations for the party, to be held in Masvingo, appear to be in full swing, despite rumours that the longtime Zimbabwe leader had a heart attack earlier this week while on holiday.

Reports indicate a deadline had been set for mobilising resources for the event, traditionally one of the biggest on Zimbabwe’s yearly calendar.

A fundraising target hasn’t yet been set. But last year’s birthday party was held in the plush Victoria Falls and cost an estimated US$1million.

Masvingo and surrounding areas have been badly hit by drought and reports on Tuesday said Masvingo province had suffered the country’s worst cattle losses, with about 5 000 prized cows dead.

Traditionally officials – and others – donate cattle to feed party-goers.

Some locals are critical of the ruling party’s desire to hold a birthday party this year given the circumstances.

“With the dire situation on the back of this drought, surely any sensible leader would channel these funds towards relief efforts,” tweeted @MunesuShoko.

Another Zimbabwean tweeted that civil servants had still not been paid their bonuses.

But organiser, Ezra Chadzamira, was quoted as saying that Zanu-PF members from Masvingo wanted to host the party ‘in style’.

“We want to make the event the best of them all,” Chadzamira said,

Many Zimbabweans have been unimpressed with feverish speculation – almost all of it outside the country – that the longtime leader had collapsed while on holiday in the Far East

Former information minister, Jonathan Moyo, who is now the minister of higher education, said on Twitter late on Tuesday that January traditionally saw ‘lies’ told about Mugabe.

Mugabe, one of Africa’s longest serving leaders after 36 years in power, said last year that it was ‘the Lord’ who had let him live so long.

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Lord’s Resistance Army rebels killed a villager and abducted dozens during two weekend raids in a remote diamond-producing area of Central African Republic, local residents and officials said.

The incidents represent the largest kidnapping by the Ugandan rebel group – headed by notorious warlord Joseph Kony – in recent months in the former French colony, which is also reeling from years of inter-religious bloodshed.

The LRA, known for massacring and mutilating civilians as well as abducting children to serve as fighters and sex slaves, raided a mine near the village of Diya, around 600 km (370 miles) east of the capital Bangui,on Saturday.

“In the first abduction, they kidnapped 10 people. Six were freed. The others are still with them. In the second abduction, around 20 people were taken and are still with the attackers,” said local government official Herve Omere Fei-Omona.

He said one person was also killed and a vehicle was burned during the attacks.

News of the kidnappings emerged on Tuesday due to the raids’ isolated location and Central African Republic’s poor communications infrastructure, made worse by violence between Muslims and Christians that has split the former French colony.

Local residents said the gunmen wore uniforms and did not speak French or the national language, Sango.

“Those kidnapped went to sell their products at the market in Diya and were kidnapped in order to carry what the LRA had looted in the village,” said local humanitarian worker Gaston Gazale.

After a military crackdown by Kampala, the LRA left Uganda about a decade ago and its fighters have roamed across lawless parts of Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Central African Republic ever since.

The United States has backed Ugandan-led regional military efforts to defeat the rebels, who are now believed to number just several hundred battle-tested fighters in addition to Kony and other leaders wanted by the International Criminal Court.

However, despite some progress, notably the surrender of senior commander Dominic Ongwen last year, the LRA continues its attacks on civilians.

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Parties to the South Sudan peace agreement signed in August 2015 willon Thursday for the first time reveal names of national ministers they have nominated to compose the membership of cabinet for a transitional government of national unity, the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) announced.

In meeting with participation of all parties to the peace agreement chaired by JMEC chairman, former President of Botswana, Festus Mogae, the parties also agreed to allow unimpeded humanitarian access to all parts of the country.

The government, SPLM in Opposition (SPLM-IO), former detainees and other South Sudan political parties selected their respective ministerial portfolios last week. The exercise, seen as a breakthrough in implementing the peace agreement, was done through consensus.

The parties have not yet nominated their officials who will fill the selected positions of institutions, but this would now happen on Thursday.

“The Parties committed to naming their ministers for the Transitional Government of National Unity (TGoNU) by 14 January 2016, and that the TGoNU would be formed by 22 January 2016, as provided for in the implementation calendar issued earlier by JMEC,” said a statement from JMEC extended to Sudan Tribune on Tuesday.

“Additionally, the parties committed to the expeditious convening of the Strategic Defence and Security Review Board, to begin the vital process of security sector reform and transformation provided for in the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan,” the statement added.

TGoNU will run for thirty months as a coalition government before elections will take place at the end of the transitional period in 2018..

JMEC added that the transitional government of national unity will be sworn in on 22 January, 2016.

Former vice-president and first vice-president designate, Riek Machar, is expected to return to the national capital, Juba, for formation of the government. It however remains unclear whether his forces will be deployed in the capital for his security before his arrival.

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