John Mahoro, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Many people from all over the world have expressed their indignation when they saw or heard that African leaders meeting in Egypt had taken no strong position against their peer Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. What could they have said actually? In other words, who could have said what? Museveni? Kagame? Kabila? Biya? Bongo? Mubarak? Kibaki? El Bashir? Sassou Nguesso? Khadaffi? Ben Ali?
The list can go on and on. They all have internal political struggle to fight and its not time to divert all the cameras to their own home situations that are not always clean. Who among the AU leaders came to power in a democratic way? Many were first rebel leaders who turned democratic and who are now counting to move from constitutional reform to constitutional reform.
The few who could have harangued Mugabe are Senegal’s Abdoulaye Wade, Sierra Leone’s Ernest Koroma, Benin’s Yayi Boni, Zambia’s Mwanawasa, etc. They all know, except perhaps for Mwanawasa, that their voices could not make a difference.
Some would say that South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki could make a difference. I do agree but he is not the best positioned leader at this moment. His party, the ANC whose control has by the way gone into Zuma’s hands, had its military base in Zimbabwe and, as a good African, Mbeki knows that you ca never spit on the hand that fed you. Even by doing so, he would create an uncomfortable situation within his party.
My own judgement is that Morgan Tsvangirai’s withdrawal from the presidential election was the worst political mistake I could imagine. I am not denying that he was not under threat. I am saying that he could have gone into hiding but yet maintain his candidacy. Certainly, his voters would be prevented from voting or the poll would be rigged, but, at the end of the day, he would proclaim himself as the winner of the poll even without results, just like Raila Odinga in Kenya. He would then immediately appoint a prime minister and cabinet from exile. He would have immediately flown to Egypt for the AU meeting. At that time, African leaders would have been forced to end their hypocrisy and choose between the two presidents of Zimbabwe.
The AU summit would have been a good occasion for the two men to meet far from home pressure and Tsvangirai would have been given his presidency after accepting to let Mugabe have a peaceful restful retirement in his own land. AND THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN THE END OF THE STORY.
Many people from all over the world have expressed their indignation when they saw or heard that African leaders meeting in Egypt had taken no strong position against their peer Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. What could they have said actually? In other words, who could have said what? Museveni? Kagame? Kabila? Biya? Bongo? Mubarak? Kibaki? El Bashir? Sassou Nguesso? Khadaffi? Ben Ali?
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