Erstellt am: 13. 8. 2013 - 14:14 Uhr

'Mad Bob' and the Rock

Reality Check: 87 year-old Robert Mugabe is set to rule Zimbabwe until he's 94, Gibraltar is the monkey-in-the-middle between Spain and Britain

Five-Term Bob

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Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe (in the middle) inspects a guard of honor at the National Heroes Acre to commemorate Heroes Day in the capital Harare, Zimbabwe, 12 August 2013

As President Robert Mugabe starts a new five-year term to rule Zimbabwe, his party faces a succession battle between his vice president, whose nom de guerre was "Comrade Spill Blood," and a former spy chief known as "The Crocodile."

Nicknames are apparently de rigeur in Zimbabwean politics. Mugabe goes for some affectionately, for others not-so-much, by the name "Mad Bob". During his 33 years in power, Mugabe has controlled the internal struggles in his Zimbabwe African National Union- Patriotic Front party over ethnic rivalry. Mugabe has recently denied reports that he's received treatment for prostate cancer and has had medical check-ups in Singapore several times.

Gerry Jackson, the founder of SW Radio, gave her impressions with regards to the prospect of another Mugabe Presidential term:

The Monkey-in-the-Middle

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Vehicles wait in a more than two hour-long queue in order to enter Gibraltar at La Linea de la Concepcion, Southern Spain, 11 August 2013

It's a humongous hunk of limestone, it's home to 300 barbary macaques (cheeky monkeys), it's known as "The Rock" and it is a British overseas territory, off the southwestern tip of Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. And Gibraltar is also the focus of a tug-of-war between Britain and Spain.

Spain claims it rightfully should govern over The Rock and this back-and-forth has been going on for a long time but this summer, the argument got hotter and the brunt of the heat was felt by tourists waiting in cars.

As Spain announced that it will seek to take its dispute with the UK to the UN with the support of Argentina, Spanish authorities are carrying out lengthy vehicle searches and document checks - a tactic that caused long tailbacks on both sides of the border the past few weeks.
Giordano Durante is the political editor at Your Gibraltar TV and he gave us a Gibraltarian's take on The Rock's precarious position: