The United States has been pushing African states, particularly the
15-nation Southern African Development Community, to take firmer action
on Zimbabwe, where the economy and infrastructure have collapsed,
spawning food shortages and a cholera epidemic that has killed nearly
800 people so far.
Zimbabwe’s neighbours are divided over what approach to take, with
Mugabe still viewed by many as a hero for liberating the country from
white minority rule. This week the African Union rejected tougher
action in favour of more dialogue.
"There is a continued outcry from African nations that this is an
African problem and it needs an African solution. But so far they have
been unwilling to step up and show us what that African solution is,"
the senior U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"That African solution is very simple — get rid of Mugabe."
Once hailed as a model African democrat, Mugabe has clung to power for
years, despite the worsening economic crisis that critics blame on his
policies. After losing parliamentary elections in March, he reached a
power sharing deal with the opposition, but talks on implementing it
have stalled.
The U.S. official said a popular uprising to oust Mugabe was unlikely
as the "real risk-takers" had already fled to neighbouring countries to
seek work there.
"Somebody from the outside is going to have do this. … At the end of
the day South Africa," he said, referring to the continent’s biggest
power which has borne the brunt of Zimbabwe’s refugee crisis.
"It takes something as simple as closing the borders. Zimbabwe is a
landlocked country. The closure of the border, literally in a week
would bring this country to its knees," he said.
"There is still a formal economy in Zimbabwe — $2 billion (1 billion
pounds) still flows into this country through various means, and even a
lot more in the informal economy. A lot of that money flows across the
borders, illegally or legally, with South Africa."
"EPIDEMIC MAN-MADE"
He said the U.S. government, which has urged Mugabe to step down, was
working behind the scenes with South Africa "to do what they think is
in their best interests." South Africa has so far favoured dialogue
over confrontation with Mugabe.
South Africa declared a stretch of its border with Zimbabwe a disaster
zone on Thursday because of the increase in cholera cases but did not
appear to have sealed it.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said on Thursday he expected
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who has urged Mugabe to step down,
to raise the Zimbabwean crisis with her colleagues during a visit to
the United Nations next week.
At a separate news conference in Washington, the U.S. ambassador to
Zimbabwe, James McGee, said Zimbabwe was rapidly becoming a failed
state. He also blamed the cholera crisis on the government’s
mismanagement, saying it was "man-made."
At the same briefing, Henrietta Fore, the administrator of the United
States aid agency USAID, said the epidemic was worsening, contradicting
Mugabe’s assertion in a televised speech earlier in the day that it had
been contained.
She said USAID was providing an additional $6.2 million towards health,
water and sanitation programs and had deployed. This was on top of the
$4.6 million it was already spending.
Another USAID official, Ky Luu, said the agency was bracing for the
epidemic to spread with the onset of summer rains, which would
contaminate wells, and the annual Christmas migration of urban
residents to their rural family homes.
© Reuters
Post published in: Uncategorized