Translated material
Mugabe did not listen to the UN
Africans are looking for a way out of the crisis in Zimbabwe
The Zimbabwean government confirmed yesterday that the second round of the country's presidential election will go ahead as scheduled on Friday. At the same time, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s refusal to participate in the election process , according to the authorities, “means nothing.” However, in reality, this predetermines the uncontested victory of 84-year-old President Robert Mugabe, who has been in power since 1980. “We will hold our elections. Let others say whatever they want, but we decided so because we are a sovereign state,” he said, adding that “he is open to discussion, but we have our own principles.”Mugabe ignored the call from the UN Security Council, which met on Monday at the insistence of London, to postpone the vote until the violence in the country ceases. Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party said yesterday that security forces and Mugabe's militias had killed at least 86 of its supporters and forced some 200,000 people into refugees since the first round of elections on March 29. MDC General Secretary Tendai Biti has been charged with treason and faces the death penalty. In March, Tsvangirai fell short of victory by less than 3% of the vote; he motivated his refusal to participate in the second round with the desire to prevent the death of his voters.
Morgan Tsvangirai, 56, was arrested five times during the election campaign and has been hiding in the Dutch embassy in Harare since Sunday. From there, the oppositionist, through the British newspaper The Guardian, called for the deployment of international peacekeepers to Zimbabwe, noting: “Intervention is an extremely complex issue. But despite the dire consequences that have accompanied some recent cases of military intervention, its absence has led to no less grim events.” Tsvangirai believes it is necessary to “back up the words of indignation of world leaders with morally justified military force” and calls for new presidential elections.
But a number of Zimbabwe's neighbors who support the idea of postponing the elections believe that it is not too late for the regime and the opposition in this country to agree on the division of power. These include the heads of Angola, Swaziland and Tanzania, members of the Southern African Development Community's troika to resolve the Zimbabwe crisis, who maintain good personal relations with Mugabe but condemn his use of violence. Yesterday they gathered in the capital of Swaziland, an enclave state within South Africa. It is expected that they will be joined by South African President Thabo Mbeki, who is conducting “appeasement diplomacy” towards Mugabe.
The influential Catholic Bishops' Conference of South Africa believes that "politically motivated violence, intimidation and torture have made it impossible for Zimbabwe to hold fair and just elections." “If the world community, led by the countries of Southern Africa, does not make a concerted effort, this hopeless situation will result in a colossal humanitarian crisis that will engulf our entire region,” the priests said. Following these remarks, and amid the departure of 8,000 observers from 38 international organizations from Zimbabwe, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Fraser warned that the United States will not recognize the results of the second round of elections in Zimbabwe in conditions where “people are dying there just to take advantage of the right to elect their leaders."