UN move against Mugabe too little too late?

UN Move Against Mugabe Too Little Too Late

The Pine Hills News Company

We must express our disappointment in the decision of Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), to pull out of Zimbabwe’s presidential run-off election scheduled for this Friday.

For we had hoped that Mr Tsvangirai would have endured the state-sponsored intimidation and violence being unleashed on his supporters and himself to contest the vote. Even though we had strongly suspected that the results would have been rigged in favour of President Robert Mugabe, the man who has now become Africa’s biggest despot and who has finally been openly described by some of that continent’s other leaders as an embarrassment.

We fear that the current United Nations Security Council debate on the crisis in Zimbabwe may amount to too little too late. For Mr Mugabe has, over the past three years, and increasingly so in recent months, made no secret of his shameless disregard for democracy.

Just last week, in an address to business people in Bulawayo, he was reported as saying that the MDC will never ever be allowed to rule Zimbabwe. “Only God who appointed me will remove me – not the MDC, not the British,” he bellowed.

Later, at a rally in that same city, he was quoted as telling supporters: “We will never allow an event like an election to reverse our independence, our sovereignty, our sweat and all that we fought for … all that our comrades died fighting for.”

Up to that point, the international community, except for Britain, largely sat by and watched the atrocities of the Mugabe regime as it cracked down on dissent, muzzled the press, destroyed a once thriving economy, bulldozed people’s homes, rigged elections, and used food as a weapon against opponents of the Government.

We are particularly bothered by the continued silence of Caricom on the disgraceful events in Zimbabwe, particularly given the history of this region’s relations with that country and the support we gave to its struggle for freedom from apartheid.

We refuse to believe that Caricom leaders simply have no interest in ensuring that democracy is preserved and respected in Zimbabwe. Neither do not expect that they are waiting until they are all gathered at their heads of government conference in Antigua next month to actually break their strange silence on this issue.

True, the Jamaican Government has voiced concern about the state of affairs in Zimbabwe. However, the collective voice of the region, we believe, would have made a stronger statement, and one which should let Mr Mugabe know in no uncertain terms that his actions are highly unacceptable and that he is no longer welcome in this region.

For as Mr Ban Ki-Moon, the secretary-general of the United Nations, said yesterday, Zimbabwe’s problems pose a grave threat to international peace and security.

Given his track record, we expect that Mr Mugabe will scoff at yesterday’s draft statement out of the Security Council demanding the recognition of the March 29 election results until there is a clearly free and fair second round of the presidential election.

If, as we suspect, he disregards the UN, he will only isolate his country, and the people of Zimbabwe will suffer even more hardships. But then again, that has never seemed to have concerned Mr Mugabe.