Against the Grain

In a country where good news has been a rare commodity in recent years, Zimbabweans could scarcely believe their luck last week when the police and courts allowed the Daily News , the country's only independent daily newspaper, to publish for the first time in four months. It was the same day South African President Thabo Mbeki told visiting German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder that Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF government would resume talks with the embattled opposition. "I am quite certain they will negotiate and will find an agreement. We will work with them," Mbeki said.

But it was too good...