Last June, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Bush-lackey extrordinaire and self-championed advocate of promoting democracy throughout the world, was quoted in headlines following a report to Washington, that “The Mugabe regime cannot be considered legitimate”, but the unquoted part of that sentence contained a caveat, “in the absence of a run-off”. Yes, a run-off would have made it all work.
Yesterday, 5 Dec 2008, she was again speaking about Zimbabwe: « It’s well past time for Robert Mugabe to leave, » she sniffed, as though he were merely a drunken party guest, annoying his hosts by outstaying his welcome.
“Half a million people in Zimbabwe will go without food handouts this month, the UN agency responsible for feeding more than two-fifths of the country’s population warned yesterday, as shortages of funds force further cuts in rations…The food crisis has contributed to the rapid spread of the cholera epidemic now ravaging the country. So far nearly 600 people have died and more than 12,000 have been infected, according to the authorities, but the real figures are believed to be much higher as the disease takes its toll among people weakened by hunger.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/un-forced-to-cut-food-aid-to-zimbabwes-starving-people-1055683.htm
But who has allowed this ogre to stay in power all this time, and why are we still enduring the travesty of calling his government ‘a democracy”? Has he had any serious opposition, besides sanctions that Mugabe himself has viewed as meaningless annoyances? Rice has made harsher statements about Zimbabwe in the past, but did it have to come to a cholera epidemic created by mass starvation, before anyone would do more than trash talk this criminal and traitor to his people?
“The Elders group, which includes former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, is urging the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to engage more actively in helping Zimbabwe transition to a more inclusive power sharing government…State-run media in Zimbabwe Sunday accused the West of using the cholera outbreak to rally support for regime change.”
Are they right? In the immortal words of the Governor of Alaska, you betcha. Is it “well past the time”? It certainly is. But while the U.N. scrambles for solutions, “Speaking in Nairobi Sunday, [Kenya’s Prime Minister] Raila Odinga said the African Union must immediately authorize sending troops into Zimbabwe.
“He said if no AU troops are available, the AU must allow the United Nations to send its own forces into Zimbabwe. Mr. Odinga said the foreign troops would, in his words, take over control of the country and ensure urgent humanitarian assistance to people dying of cholera and starvation.”
http://voanews.com/english/2008-12-07-voa13.cfm
Today, PM of England Gordon Brown “did not explicitly call for Mr Mugabe to step down, but said world leaders should stand together to defend human rights and democracy in Zimbabwe.” Do those words have any meaning at all?