World must take stand on Mugabe
World must take stand on Mugabe
The world’s democracies have dragged their feet, but there is still time to thwart Robert Mugabe’s despotism.
Lest history fail to record the dismal response of the international community on Zimbabwe, let us reprise the signposts of a descent into darkness. Firstly, just days after the March 29 poll, the Southern African Development Community observed, ridiculously, that the elections had been free and fair, with some caveats. The United States and the European Union then began voicing some concerns over delays in announcing vote returns.
Yet the world failed to move.
After these first volleys, weeks of continued global indifference were taken to new highs as the Zimbabwe High Court refused to properly consider a petition by the Movement for Democratic Change and failed to order the release of the still-embargoed results.
Again, the world said nothing.
By the third week of April, South African President Thabo Mbeki was surmising that all parties must keep talking. This was despite the fact that the ruling Zanu-PF, by all independent counts the loser in the elections, still held all government offices and infrastructure, and had begun intimidating Zimbabweans considered to be against them.
Still, the world nodded and remained unmoved.
By now the silence from global governments and bodies like the SADC and the United Nations had become unbearable. Admonitions and threats from many governments, and even the most liberal-minded communities in the US and the EU, ring hollow. Words have not been followed by action.
Now we have discussion of multilateral sanctions. But where is the movement?
So far we have had circular motion trying to disguise itself as forward progress from the international community. It’s a downward spiral that takes us further from the light of democracy.