Former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan says that Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe has been unsuccessful to rule southern African state. | Really, Kofi? When did you figure that one out? Not while you were Secretary General, was it? |
The former UN Secretary General also called on Southern African leaders to play a more active role in bringing about a transition to an inclusive government in Zimbabwe.
The Sunday statement was issued after a meeting of a group of former leaders known as 'The Elders'. A delegation from the group - compromising Annan, former President Jimmy Carter of the United States as well as former Mozambican education minister Graca Machel - was recently denied entry to Zimbabwe. "The [Mugabe] regime has been in denial about what is happening in their country, and the region has not really wanted to know either," Carter also said in Sunday's statement. He urged rapid formation of a workable government.
Meanwhile, former Algerian foreign minister Lakhdar Brahimi said, "A liberation movement and its leaders lose their legitimacy when they not only ignore the suffering of their people but actually act in a manner that increases their suffering dramatically," comparing Mugabe's anti-colonial past and present actions in power.
| Few people would know more about liberations losing their legitimacy than the Algerians ... |