The crisis in Zimbabwe is deepening. The Mugabe governemnt is not allowing the declaration of presidential election results because it is rumoured that he is trailing behind MDC leader, Tsvangirai. What is adding fuel to the fire is that China has send a shipload of arms to the troubled country. The ship lies at the South african port of Durban. The port workers are refusing to unload the arms from the ship and put them on trucks going to Zimbabwe. But Thabo Mbeki’s government has no such qualms. It says South Africa does not interfere in dealings between two nations (Zimbabwe and China). But what he does not say is that the arms will be used to suppress opposition workers by the Mugabe government. It will only lead to more violence.
Mbeki has failed as the mediator in the election crisis. He has acted pro-Mugabe by preventing Zimbabwe from being put on the UN Security Council agenda. South Africa is the present president of the UNSC. By not stopping the Chinese arms he has only shown his bias further.
But though Mbeki’s reverence towards Mugabe is laudable, it is only pushing Zimbabwe towards a big crisis. The stubborn Mugabe regime has now labeled MDC leader, Tsvangirai, as a traitor for begging Gordon Brown to step in to help him, which is untrue. As treason in Zimababwe is punishable by death, this seems another ruse by the regime to get rid of its chief political opponent.
Mugabe by digging his heels in, is closing all doors for a honourable exit for himself. As Tsvangirai says,
Tsvangirai is being hospitable towards Mugabe, not out of any altruism, but because he fears the President and his associates would simply cling to power all the harder if they face being tried for human rights abuses.The more he is digging in, the more he’s abusing people. I still think we should forgive and forget. But given the wave of violence against the people, how do you sell that to the people?
Sources: Guardian, Independent
