A Chequer-Board of Nights and Days

See if you can make heads or tails out of this:

South African President Thabo Mbeki has defended his record on Zimbabwe, while playing down the crisis at a UN debate.

His governing ANC party, however, said it was concerned about the deepening crisis brewing in its neighbour.

Gordon Brown told the UN Security Council no one believed Robert Mugabe won last month's presidential election in the country.

Meanwhile, the opposition in Zimbabwe said 50 supporters were arrested after a strike over delayed poll results.

Mr Mbeki had said there was "no crisis" in Zimbabwe after meeting Mr Mugabe on Saturday.

He defended those remarks in New York, saying dialogue was essential to bring about a resolution to the situation in Zimbabwe, where 18 days after presidential elections, electoral officials have yet to announce a result.

"The solution to the problem of Zimbabwe lies in the hands of the people of Zimbabwe," he said.

"In our engagement with the situation, we needed to talk continuously at all times with both the ruling party and the opposition."

Relatedly, Josh Trevino is kind enough to direct my attention to this:

China has secretly shipped tens of thousands of small arms to the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, raising fears the consignment has been brought in to crush any attempts to unseat Robert Mugabe from power.

The consignment has cost the regime millions of United States dollars and came through Durban harbour in a Chinese registered vessel, An Yue Juang.

It includes 3 million rounds of ammunition for AK47 rifles, the standard assault weapon for the country's defence forces. There were also 1,500 rocket propelled grenades, a support weapon for the infantry, plus 3,500 mortar bombs.

If true, this would make for something of a crisis, now wouldn't it? What sayeth Mr. Mbeki?