Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe has spilled more blood to ensure that he stays in charge, said Britain’s Guardian in an editorial on Wednesday. Excerpts:
Mugabe said on Sunday that much blood had been shed for Zimbabwe’s independence, and that he would not surrender control of it for a mere cross on the ballot paper. True to his word, he has spilled more blood to ensure that he stays in charge. All dictators are familiar with the calculation he is making. Will the terror he has unleashed overcome the hatred of his rule, or the desperation of his people? A campaign that began seven weeks ago with beatings has turned into a pogrom in which opposition activists have been abducted, tortured, murdered and raped.
The MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) has paid dearly for its victory in the first round of elections on March 29. More than 100 of their party have been killed, and 200 have disappeared. Its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, has been repeatedly arrested. His No. 2, Tendai Biti, the MDC’s general secretary, is locked up in one the country’s worst prisons. He faces a charge of treason, which carries the death penalty, on the basis of a document that is a crude forgery. Either violence wins the second round or, if Mr. Mugabe is still not sure a few days before the election, it allows him to cancel it. There is not a scintilla of doubt that the violence is planned by the state and enacted by police, soldiers and party militants. But Mr. Mugabe still claims, as he did yesterday, that if it does not stop, Morgan Tsvangirai will be held responsible.
There are 150 election observers from the South African Development Community already in the country. The UN special envoy Haile Menkerios is also in Harare and 350 other monitors paid for by the UN are expected. The obscenity of events in Zimbabwe does not simply lie in their brutality or scale. It lies in the fact they are taking place under the noses of southern Africa, whose governments behave as if they are powerless to stop them. The MDC has little option but to endure Zanu-PF’s blows, and the opposition think that whatever the result, it will be a transformational moment. But there are at least 11 more days of this terror to go.
