“The most important thing is that the violence has to stop,” Jendayi Frazer
said in an interview with The Associated Press during a visit to Zambia.
“There’s no neutrality when people are being beaten,” Frazer said. “When a
government deploys its military, and its police, and its intelligence
operatives, as well as mobilizing youth militia, then the international
community has a responsibility to step in and to try to stop that government
from beating its own population.”
Frazer, the assistant U.S. secretary of state for African affairs, is
touring the region to press leaders to take a tougher stance against
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe. She met Saturday night with Zambian
President Levy Mwanwasa, current chairman of a southern African regional
bloc and one of the area’s more outspoken heads of state on the Zimbabwean
turmoil. She is due to meet with former Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda on
Sunday.
Results from Zimbabwe’s presidential elections – held one month ago – still
have not been announced. The delay has been accompanied by an upsurge in
violence and arrests of opposition supporters. Opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai is widely believed to have won the elections, though not with an
outright majority.
Asked whether she thought the international community could have confidence
in the result of any run-off, Frazer said: “No, not under the current
conditions.”
She left open the possibility of supporting a national unity government – an
idea floated last Wednesday in a state-owned Zimbabwean newspaper – but said
the opposition should lead it.
“Any national unity government or inclusive government that comes about
through negotiation has to reflect the population,” Frazer said. “So we will
wait to see.”
Frazer said the United States would work with the World Bank and other
donors to mobilize an assistance package for a new Zimbabwean government.
Last week, she called Tsvangirai the “clear victor” in the presidential
election, prompting the Zimbabwean justice minister to respond that Frazer
“has no “moral or legal authority to make unfounded announcements on our
domestic processes.”
Zimbabwe was not on the envoy’s tour.
“President Mugabe isn’t speaking to very many people,” Frazer said. “He’s
not even speaking to some of the regional leaders.”
Post published in: News