Tune Into News & Notes on NPR Today

Imani Countess, Jubilee USA Board co-chair and TransAfrica Forum's senior director of Public Affairs, will be on NPR's News & Notes w/ Farai Chideya today at 1 p.m. EST (here in DC) discussing the Jubilee Act, debt cancellation and Zimbabwe among other things. If you miss the broadcast, you can visit the News & Notes website and listen to it there after 3p.m. EST.

Note: So debt cancellation wasn't discussed, but Imani did talk about Zimbabwe's post-election crisis. Last year Imani and Briggs co-wrote an article on the American Friends Service Committee Website explaining some of the links between Zimbabwe's current political crisis and IMF debt repayments. Read the full article and take action.

You can also read an article written in early April by Patrick Bond, director of the Durban-based Centre for Civil Society, where he compares Zimbabwe and Kenya's elections and talks about the possibility of new loans coming to Zimbabwe.  In early April, Patrick Bond, director of the Durban-based Centre for Civil Society, wrote about what's happening with Zimbabwe's elections within the context of the debt crisis:

Meanwhile, an ominous dance began between Tsvangirai and the forces of imperialism. According  to a Reuters report today, the MDC would gain access to US$2 billion per year in 'aid and development' ­ which normally is top-heavy with foreign debt and chock-full of conditions.  Amongst these, most likely, are dramatic cuts to the civil services, so that the Zimbabwe central bank stops printing so much money, fueling inflation. But the downside is the potential deepening of the country's economic crisis in the short term, as effective demand falls while more luxury goods become available thanks to foreign exchange inflows.

The key players are the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, European Union and the United Nations. No doubt Bush's White House is also involved in negotiations, which, if Tsvangirai persuades Mugabe to depart, may even reach fruition next week at the IMF/Bank spring meetings in Washington.