Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has been arrested on numerous
occasions and his campaigns disrupted. His supporters are being beaten, run
out of their homes and even killed by security agencies and lawless mobs
acting at the behest of the ruling Zanu-PF party.
Beyond the terror campaign, President Robert Mugabe has declared that
he will not hand over power even if rejected by the voters. He has said
also that a Tsvangirai victory would be the trigger for war.
All this is happening as the African Union and Zimbabwe’s neighbours
look on with seeming disinterest. This is the time to make a clear
distinction between remaining neutral and intervening to prevent the rape of
democracy.
Africa must stand as one and mince no words in telling President
Mugabe that he has no option but to relinquish power if the people of
Zimbabwe reject him.
It must also be made clear that he will be held personally responsible
for crimes against his own people as currently being witnessed.
Zimbabwe provides an acid test for Africa.
The African Union was formed from the ashes of the discredited
Organisation of African Unity with a clear mandate to advance the march of
democracy on the continent.
The continental organisation has the mandate to intervene in any
member-country where democracy is threatened and human rights trampled on.
Pronouncements by President Mugabe and his key lieutenants indicating
they will not respect the will of the Zimbabwean people if the election
results do not go their way must not be taken lightly.
The intention to kill democracy must be met with firm and unequivocal
responses from the AU, the regional bodies of which Zimbabwe is a member and
individual African countries, particularly the southern African bloc.
What we have heard so far is very loud silence, and the suffering
people of Zimbabwe might well take silence as consent.
Must we abandon them to the mercies of an increasingly mad dictator
who would starve his subjects to death to hold onto power?
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Post published in: News