South African Ruling Party Names Interim President

South Africa’s ruling African National Congress has nominated its deputy leader Kgalema Motlanthe to replace President Thabo Mbeki, who resigned on Sunday. If approved by the ANC-dominated parliament later this week, Motlanthe will serve as interim president until April 2009, when an election will be held. Motlanthe is regarded a shrewd strategist with crossover appeal to both supporters of outgoing President Mbeki and ANC leader Jacob Zuma, who is widely expected to win the April 2009 election. Meanwhile, South African Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu has described the events leading to Mbeki’s ouster as a type of “political retribution” that could gradually turn the country towards becoming a “banana republic”.[PE]