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| Africa Subsaharan |
| US Calls for Stronger International Action on Zim |
| 2008-06-20 |
| U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called for stronger international action against political repression in Zimbabwe during a meeting at the U.N. Thursday. Zimbabwe has seen increasing violence and the intimidation of opponents of President Robert Mugabe ahead of next week's runoff presidential election. Secretary Rice told an informal meeting of the 15 members of the Security Council, African nations and some non-governmental groups that the political instability and economic collapse created by the Zimbabwean government's actions are destabilizing the entire region. She accused the Mugabe government of orchestrating a 'campaign of violence and harassment' designed to prevent the country's opposition from conducting its peaceful election campaign. 'Clearly, we have reached a point where broader, stronger international effort is needed,' said Rice. She urged the Security Council to take up the matter, and she welcomed the efforts so far of the African Union and the Southern African Development Community [SADC] as well as the 14 former African presidents and dignitaries who have called for Zimbabwean authorities to allow for a free and fair runoff election on June 27. 'We urge the SADC to increase its pressure on President Mugabe and his followers to stop this violence immediately, to permit the resumption of humanitarian activities, to allow the election to proceed freely and fairly and to peacefully abide by the results,' said Rice. President Mugabe has warned that he is prepared to go to war to prevent the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) candidate from governing if he succeeds in the runoff election. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #7 Did you get that from the same source that told you Schwartz did nothing but play golf in Hawaii? |
| Posted by: Pappy 2008-06-20 22:40 |
| #6 In Vegas it's called 'insurance.' She's focusing on |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2008-06-20 19:45 |
| #5 Its for the UNo-UNSC = USA to "go to War", notsomuch Mugabe and other. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-06-20 19:08 |
| #4 Why now is Condi making all this noise?where was all the concern at the time of the election rehersal? It took a really bad economic situation (that finally hurt the Zim's mid-level elite) for the oppo to come up with some sort of credibility. Then it took an election/runoff result, a horde of economic refugees and likely USDS arm-twisting (and probably some incentives) to get African leadership on board. Likely there was no concern because nobody thought the MDC-T had a snowball's chance in hell. Rice and the Brits could make all the noise they wanted, but if Zimbabwe's neighbors couldn't be brought/dragged on board the bandwagon, nothing was going to happen. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2008-06-20 17:48 |
| #3 Why now is Condi making all this noise? Did she finally wake up and see that all the goodness that used to be Zimbabwe has 'left the building?' seems about 2 or 3 years too late. where was all the concern at the time of the election rehersal? |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2008-06-20 14:46 |
| #2 Yeah, Mugabe can. It'll be an internal war. Mugabee has the arms. He has the 'veterans'. Likely his military leaders have been getting additional training. His patron is quite willing to pony up the extra funding for future considerations. If it's quick and vicious, like I think it will be, any so-called international action will be moot. The Africans will back down. For all their words, the AU and the SADC are pretty much impotent. Besides, there's always been reluctance to throw-over a fellow African revolutionary. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2008-06-20 13:28 |
| #1 Can he afford to go to war? I'm thinking he can't. It sounds quite expensive. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2008-06-20 11:11 |