Is Robert Mugabe immortal? Will he be in office forever? He has used everything from assassination to intimidation to bribery to stay in office. But, his latest maneuver may be his cleverest and most difficult to combat. A brief recap: Robert Mugabe has been the leader of Zimbabwe since 1980, first as Prime Minister then as President. Throughout the the 1970's and the 1980's, he was the leader of Zimbabwe's (then Rhodesia) struggle for majority rule. He was a hero not only in Zimbabwe, but throughout Africa. However, his policies of land "reform" and economic redistribution have driven the country from prosperity to destitution. Zimbabwe went from being the bread basket of Africa to a nation on the brink of starvation with an inflation rate which reached 231 million percent (!) in July. And yet he is still in power. In the elections last year, it looked as though Mugabe was finally out. His ZANU=PF party won 99 seats in House of Assembly and the opposition party of Morgan Tsvangirai, Movement for Democratic Change, won 100 seats plus the support of a smaller faction which controls the other ten seats. In addition, most people believe that Tsvangirai actually won the presidential election, but Mugabe insisted on a runoff election which Tsvangirai eventually withdrew from when a number of his supporters were tortured and murdered. A unity government was formed with Mugabe as president and Tsvangirai as Prime Minister and Tsvangirai's party in charge of the House of Assembly. Things looked hopeful...until now.
A government official from the MDC was arrested this week, accused of stealing a cellphone from an ally of President Robert Mugabe while sharing a lunch table with him at a political unity event. This may not sound serious, but if he is convicted, he will be ineligible to serve in the government. Five other members of the MDC have already been convicted of similar criminal charges and forced to leave Parliament, whittling Tsvangirai's majority in Parliament. In addition, 16 other Tsvangirai supporters are facing charges they deny. Meanwhile, none of Mugabe’s supporters, accused by human rights groups of waging a campaign of terror during last year’s election season, have been prosecuted. Uhm.....
So my question to you is this: When will Mugabe finally lose his control of Zimbabwe?
a) With the next election which Tsvangirai will obviously win
b) When other African leaders withdraw their support and remove him from office
c) Never. He will hold power by whatever means necessary until he dies
d) When there is finally a popular uprising against him which removes him through violence
Okay, everyone. Let's hear your prediction.
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Ms. Hansbury you forgot an option. We shall call it option A because it is the best option there is.
ReplyDeleteA) A United States led international coalition, or NATO, or the equivalent of goes in and overthrows Robert Mugabe and installs Morgan Tsvangirai as the democratically elected President of Zimbabwe which he is!!! or allow ZImbabwe to hold new elections which Tsvangirai will probably win, than again his is the only opposition leader our western media sources give us, so there might be a sleeper candidate.
I did in fact create my own option because I personally think that any short of arm conflict will not remove Mugabe from power.
Ian,
ReplyDeleteAre you using the 101st Airborne again? I think they are a little busy with Iraq and Afghanistan. Also, do you think the American people would stand for American military action in Africa. If we did not do it for Rwanda or Darfur, why would we do it for Zimbabwe.
Just one reminder: Black Hawk Down.
With the little knowledge I have, I'm gonna go with
ReplyDeleteb) When other African leaders withdraw their support and remove him from office
It makes sense to me that once the other political leaders of Africa fall back one by one then he will be out numbered and removed from his position. But like I said, I don't know much so with what you wrote, I'd go with that choice.
I think that is a reasonable choice because he would never have been able to stay in power as long as he has without the support of other African leaders who respect what he did to bring freedom to Zimbabwe. So, the big question is what will it take to get other African leaders to take a stand against someone who has been so much a part of Africa's drive for indepedence?
ReplyDeleteMs Hansbury,
ReplyDeleteWe should have sent troops to Rwanda and we should set up a No Fly in Darfur. Black Hawk Down is a perfectly legitimate point but Zimbabwe isn't Somalia. And while there is Somalia. What about Bosnia? It could be a success too.
I am in favor of a large INTERNATIONAL force that goes into Zimbabwe and removes Mugabe. The United Nations, NATO, France, South Africa and the rest of the world should get involved. There is in no uncertain a genocide being committed in Zimbabwe and the international community is just sitting around. They don't care because its Africa and we never care about poor and dare I go further and insinuate there is a race element involved.
The international community telling those leaders that while Mugabe was revolutionary in his time he has betrayed his people, his country and everything he fought for and is committing genocide. If countries like South Africa want to be part of the global community they need to stop aligning themselves with autocratic rulers killing their people and instead push for democracy to be given its chance.
Force is the only thing that will remove Mugabe from office. I rather not use force but when the stench of your people dying doesn't get you to remove yourself from office than there leaves little room for other options.
I don't know if I am done or not.... You Know Ms. Hansbury I will continue to advocate this policy. Something has to be done, Mugabe is clearly out of step with the world and killing his country. He was voted out of office too and they rigged the elections. I also feel that in Zimbabwe the people are just completely unable to rebel themselves...The situation is sooo drastic, some one has too. Except for us Ms. Hansbury the world doesn't care about Zimbabwe and they should! Because a Zimbabweans life is just as important as anyone elses.
I forgot to add that I do agree with Ginny and you that African leaders giving Mugabe a pass and not pushing him to resign has given him all the freedom he needs to stay in power. At the time Mbeki (President of South Africa a year ago) should have stepped up and called the elections illegitimate. A huge opportunity was lost when South AFrica did no set up against Mugabe.
ReplyDeleteI would also like to mention one more thing. The whole election fiasco with Mugabe and Zimbabwe is more than a year old and one single election spans TWO conflicts classes. THere is something terribly wrong with this Ms. Hansbury.
If the U.S were to send in troops to remove every leader who is "out of step with the world", we'd be in a perpetual war and you'd be marching off to war instead of packing for AU. What about Ahmadinejad? Kim Jong Il? the Junta in Myanmar? The list could go on and on. The positive sign about Zimbabwe is that there is an active opposition despite everything Mugabe has done to wipe it out - by any means necessary. How involved should we get in supporting Tsvangirai and the Movement for Democratic Change? This is a tricky question since Mugabe's main charge is that Tsvangirai is the puppet of non-African, neo-colonial forces who want to shape Zimbabwe in their own image.
ReplyDeleteMs. Hansbury, you never thought this day would come. But it has... after getting the stuffing knocked out of my BRILLIANT invasion scheme on this blog by YOU! and a phone conversation where Ginny knocked the stuffing out of my (once again let me emphasis) BRILLIANT invasion scheme. I concede that there are certain small factors devoid in my invasion scheme (for instance) logic or any actual knowledge of the history of invasions.
ReplyDeleteI mean my premise for invasion is that the people of Zimbabwe would welcome in with open arms after we disposed their tyrannical and illegitimate leader (Ginny helped me realize that was my actual premise). Well, let us ask Paul Wolfiwizt (I really could care less the correct spelling of his name) how that premise worked out in Iraq. IN addition I agree that our military right now is a little too stretched out at the moment to begin another military confrontation. And the last part the only way my invasion scheme really works is if we ignore a good 80% of the armed conflicts the United States has been involved in during the 20th and 21st century in Third World Countries.
Ergo, never failing to use a hundred words when 5 would have sufficed. I recognize an invasion of Zimbabwe is not the most practical solution. However a show of force from the international community through the United Nations, NATO or the African Union might be necessary to get Mugabe to step down.
As to how the United States should handle the situation. Well... We should stop ignoring the problem and start addressing it. If we are afraid of inciting feelings of anti-colonialism and anti-imperialism that plays into Mugabe's hands, than I propose a back channel diplomatic effort to oust Mugabe. Namely pressure South Africa and Jacob Zuma to play hard ball with Mugabe and get him to resign. The United States should make it clear that we have our qualms about Zuma and that if he wants to up his standing with the United States and put his country in a better light, this is one of the areas he can do just that. Maybe even go so far as to go to the United Nations and suggest that Mbeki lead a U.N. delegation backed by the US and other members of the security council too work at pressuring Mugabe to step down. I am sure Zuma would hate the idea of Mbeki getting international credit for helping to resolve Zimbabwe. Let us also call in Mandela, Tony Blair, and Koffi Anonan. It would be up to Zimbabwe if they want new elections or not. BUt if there were new elections they would be UN and Carter Center monitored. I know that to a degree a lot of this has already been down, but I am sure the international community can be more forceful.
I can not see anything in Zuma's background which would suggest he would oppose Mugabe. And Mbeki was the one who backed him in the first place with the obvious fraudulent election. Sadly, Mandela is too old and frail to deal with this. I am wondering if Desmond Tutu could help in some way. I am still encouraged that an opposition continues to exist considering all that Mugabe has done to stamp it out.
ReplyDelete