There is positive news about Zimbabwe tonight. Through the intervention of Thabo Mbeki, president of South Africa, there will probably be discussions between the competing parties in the recent elections to help resolve the political and economic crisis. The following is from Reuters via the New York Times:
Zimbabwe’s main opposition party could sign an agreement as early as Monday to begin substantive talks with President Robert Mugabe’s party on ending an impasse that has worsened the country’s severe economic crisis, opposition officials said on Saturday. The apparent breakthrough occurred after South Africa’s president, Thabo Mbeki, proposed forming a team drawn from African regional bodies and the United Nations to help him mediate the crisis in Zimbabwe.
It seemed incredible that Mbeki could sit aside and watch a neighboring nation starve. He is a close friend of President Mugabe and probably the only individual who can talk sense to him. Can he use a carrot and stick approach to alleviate the suffering in Zimbabwe? Hopefully yes. UN food aid stopped when they found Mugabe’s forces were reselling it to raise foreign exchange. When the UN insisted on controls, Mugabe threw them out. Mbeki’s team hopefully will be more persuasive. The next step will be to offer Mugabe a pleasant villa in Durban overlooking the Indian Ocean as his retirement home.
Whatever the outcome, I welcome Mbeki’s positive actions. Also, as I pointed out in my previous post on Zimbabwe, if you want to find out what is happening to the people there, read Cathy Buckle. Her normal Saturday letter hasn’t been posted yet and it's already Sunday. I pray she is OK. Update Cathy Buckle is up now. Here is some of her weeekly letter:
It's been a brutal four months that Zimbabwe will never forget. A time when the country's leaders have bombarded us with hate speech, threatened us with war and tried to make us believe that they are immortal and their rule eternal. For the last four months we have been a population in a state of mourning as a litany of horror has become our daily lives: murder, torture, abduction, rape and arson. And now, after all these weeks of abuse and before the soil has settled over fresh graves, gifts are being given by the same people who threatened war. I
t seems to be of no consequence that the constitutional deadline for the swearing in of MP's and Senators, the election of the Speaker of the House and Senate and the ceremonial opening of Parliament have all been missed. As I write this letter the leaves from the Msasa trees are falling thick and fast. They are early this year and the sound of them raining down on the roof gives notice of a new season about to start. The falling of the leaves, like the wishes of the people, cannot be stopped - no matter how many gifts are given.
Showing posts with label Mugabe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mugabe. Show all posts
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
Mugabe retains power, the people don't rejoice
On Saturday an effort by the US and others on the UN Security Council to issue sanctions against Zimbabwe failed when it was vetoed by China and Russia.
The sanctions proposed were relatively mild: an arms embargo, an appointment of a UN mediator and financial and travel restrictions on President Robert Mugabe and 13 of his top generals. This was an effort to penalize Mugabe and his Zanu-PF Party for gross human rights violations against his political opposition during the recent elections. During the first election in March, the government claimed opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai did not gain a majority and a runoff was needed to determine the presidency. This was disputed by the opposition.
Leading up to the runoff, Mugabe’s party goons terrorized opposition party members and their families with rape, butchery and murder. Shortly before the runoff, Tsvangirai withdrew, fearing for his life and those of his supporters. He also knew the results were preordained. Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) is in economic ruin because of Mugabe’s policies. There is hyperinflation of 26,000% per year as the government simply prints more money to pay their bills. Once the breadbasket of Africa, the country is now on the verge of massive starvation after the white farmers were forced off of their farms, their lands confiscated and given to Mugabe's pals. Even efforts by impoverished Zimbabweans to provide for themselves, by selling their wares in an open-market shanty town, was met with military force, leaving 700,000 homeless and out of work.
It is difficult to comprehend the misery Zimbabweans live under. Antiseptic articles in British and American papers simply can’t do justice. But there is a window you can peer through that gives a more realistic picture. It is Cathy Buckle’s Letters. She writes her weekly memoirs every Saturday. Please be warned! You must have a strong constitution to read them. They will tear you up. Cathy Buckle is white. She is the widow of a farmer who bought his farm in the early 1990s with government assurances it would be safe. They were subsequently forced off it. Cathy loves her country. Most of her reporting is about the black citizenry and the suffering they face. From this past week:
“In the main supermarket in my home town this weekend there were too many empty shelves to count. In the fortnight since Mr Mugabe was sworn in as President for his sixth term, everyday life has gone from struggle to complete crisis. No one is coping now and in the last two weeks virtually all foodstuffs, toiletries and household goods have completely disappeared from stores.
On what should have been a busy weekend morning in our once thriving town, the car park was virtually empty and the only things to buy in the cavernous supermarket were cabbages, butternut squash, lemons, fizzy drinks and a few packets of meat.‘Where are all your goods?’ I asked one shop attendant.‘There is nothing,’ he said, ‘the suppliers say they have nothing to deliver.’I stood while he weighed the butternut squash I had chosen and exclaimed in shock at the 30 billion dollar price sticker he fixed to the vegetable. ‘Can I show you something?’ the man said and before I could answer he took his most recent pay slip out of his pocket.
For an entire month the shop assistant had earned just 28 billion dollars - not even enough to buy one single butternut squash. Eight hours a day, five and half days a week and his entire salary was not enough to provide even one single meal. He told me he had a wife and a child to support and said with remorse and shame in his voice:‘I am failing them and if I do not jump the border to look for work this month then they are surely going to die.’ ”
You would think the neighboring South African government might help. They won’t. Nor will the members of the Organization of African Unity. Other than a tepid chastising by two members at their meeting two weeks ago, Mugabe was treated as an honorable head of state.
Thugs like thugs.
The sanctions proposed were relatively mild: an arms embargo, an appointment of a UN mediator and financial and travel restrictions on President Robert Mugabe and 13 of his top generals. This was an effort to penalize Mugabe and his Zanu-PF Party for gross human rights violations against his political opposition during the recent elections. During the first election in March, the government claimed opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai did not gain a majority and a runoff was needed to determine the presidency. This was disputed by the opposition.
Leading up to the runoff, Mugabe’s party goons terrorized opposition party members and their families with rape, butchery and murder. Shortly before the runoff, Tsvangirai withdrew, fearing for his life and those of his supporters. He also knew the results were preordained. Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) is in economic ruin because of Mugabe’s policies. There is hyperinflation of 26,000% per year as the government simply prints more money to pay their bills. Once the breadbasket of Africa, the country is now on the verge of massive starvation after the white farmers were forced off of their farms, their lands confiscated and given to Mugabe's pals. Even efforts by impoverished Zimbabweans to provide for themselves, by selling their wares in an open-market shanty town, was met with military force, leaving 700,000 homeless and out of work.
It is difficult to comprehend the misery Zimbabweans live under. Antiseptic articles in British and American papers simply can’t do justice. But there is a window you can peer through that gives a more realistic picture. It is Cathy Buckle’s Letters. She writes her weekly memoirs every Saturday. Please be warned! You must have a strong constitution to read them. They will tear you up. Cathy Buckle is white. She is the widow of a farmer who bought his farm in the early 1990s with government assurances it would be safe. They were subsequently forced off it. Cathy loves her country. Most of her reporting is about the black citizenry and the suffering they face. From this past week:
“In the main supermarket in my home town this weekend there were too many empty shelves to count. In the fortnight since Mr Mugabe was sworn in as President for his sixth term, everyday life has gone from struggle to complete crisis. No one is coping now and in the last two weeks virtually all foodstuffs, toiletries and household goods have completely disappeared from stores.
On what should have been a busy weekend morning in our once thriving town, the car park was virtually empty and the only things to buy in the cavernous supermarket were cabbages, butternut squash, lemons, fizzy drinks and a few packets of meat.‘Where are all your goods?’ I asked one shop attendant.‘There is nothing,’ he said, ‘the suppliers say they have nothing to deliver.’I stood while he weighed the butternut squash I had chosen and exclaimed in shock at the 30 billion dollar price sticker he fixed to the vegetable. ‘Can I show you something?’ the man said and before I could answer he took his most recent pay slip out of his pocket.
For an entire month the shop assistant had earned just 28 billion dollars - not even enough to buy one single butternut squash. Eight hours a day, five and half days a week and his entire salary was not enough to provide even one single meal. He told me he had a wife and a child to support and said with remorse and shame in his voice:‘I am failing them and if I do not jump the border to look for work this month then they are surely going to die.’ ”
You would think the neighboring South African government might help. They won’t. Nor will the members of the Organization of African Unity. Other than a tepid chastising by two members at their meeting two weeks ago, Mugabe was treated as an honorable head of state.
Thugs like thugs.
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