Posted on 09/18/2007 8:07:11 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - African leaders may have to guarantee Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe immunity from prosecution and safeguard his wealth if they are to persuade him to step down, a top think-tank said Tuesday.
The International Crisis Group warned time had already run out to ensure fair elections next year but said the Southern African Development Community (SADC) could still exert pressure on Mugabe and his security chiefs if they were assured of a "soft landing".
"In exchange, Mugabe would have to retire at the end of his term (March 2008), and the security establishment would have to accept political reforms and free and fair elections," said an ICG report released in South Africa.
The report said incentives could include "immunity from prosecution for Mugabe and other senior ZANU-PF officials" as well as "guarantees, at least to a specified level, that the accumlated wealth, including land, of Mugabe, his family, and other members of the establishment will be secure".
"The incentives that may be needed to achieve these outcomes are likely to be controversial, though not necessarily among Zimbabweans, who want above all an end to their nightmare," it added.
South African President Thabo Mbeki was tasked by SADC leaders this year with mediating between Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party and the opposition ahead of elections which are due next year.
The ICG however said that the talks had faced "significant hurdles" with Zimbabwe's parliament set to change the existing electoral boundaries in a way that would increase the ruling party's chances of victory.
"The increase in parliamentary seats is not justified by demographic growth. It is a calculated strategy to reconfigure parliament to make it more amenable and guarantee the status quo will last beyond Mugabe's own rule," it said.
A voter registration programme had triggered plausible charges that the government was "in effect rigging the polls in advance" while divisions within the oppostion had also increased the likelihood of a ZANU-PF victory.
"A divided opposition offers ZANU-PF the prospect of an easy electoral victory, while harming its own bargaining power in the SADC mediation," it said.
The 83-year-old Mugabe is seeking a seventh term in office next year at a time when Zimbabwe is struggling with the world's highest rate of inflation and an unemployment rate of around 80 percent.
Mugabe has rejected suggestions that he go into exile at the end of his current term, blaming the country's woes on Western sanctions imposed after he allegedly rigged his 2002 re-election.
He has been accused by the West of multiple human rights abuses during his 27-year rule and the European Union and United States have frozen overseas bank accounts held by Mugabe and his closest allies.
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe addresses ZANU PF supporters in July 2007. African leaders may have to guarantee Mugabe immunity from prosecution and safeguard his wealth if they are to persuade him to step down, a top think-tank has said.(AFP/File/Desmond Kwande)
Give him a ‘Ceaucescu’ send-off.
Just a thought.
I don’t think he should be guaranteed anything other than a JDAM, special delivery.
” Mugabe may need guarantees to step down: ICG (keeps his spoils, gains immunity from prosecution) “
He’s just asking for the same deal Bill Clinton got....
How did this guy come to power again?
It is worth repeating.
Carolyn
Seems to me a bullet would be a much faster and cheaper solution.......
So, old Bobby wants to run away after what he has done and keep the spoils of the people he raped it from. I say all of it should go back into the treasury and he can go farm a little plot of land somewhere like everyone else’s piece of paradise there.
If he has any smarts he gets his ass over here pronto where he will be protected by Jessy, Al and the ACLU.
Have you no decency, sir? Put a mattress behind his fat a** before you shoot him. Then, he will have a "soft-landing".
“He’s just asking for the same deal Bill Clinton got....”
And, the same deal heads of state almost always get, no matter their transgressions.
Like it or not, heads of state are in the business of protecting one another.
Just shoot him and get it over with.
Rob a bank and you'll get 10 years. Rape an entire country and the 'international community' will gurantee you get to keep it.
Great system.
L
Counteroffer:
One suitcase; clothes only, no bank books, account numbers. No public funds loot, no precious stones, no property deeds, no "retirement" fund of any kind, no bulletproof vest, no bodyguards.
Good luck, slimeball.
Fortunately, everyone else --- isn't.
Kill the bastard.......now.
What happened to Pinochet is going to bite the west in the butt. No Dictator will willingly step down and go into exile like old Marcos did in the 80’s if they know that they will face criminal trial.
Mugabe will be a fool if he thinks they won’t come after him. I know Justice should be done but if Saddam or Chavez would of peacefully went into exile then maybe it would be the smart thing to let them.
If I was in a position to remove Mugabe, there would be no “soft landing”. I’d tell him, “If you cooperate, we’ll kill you quickly. If you don’t, we’ll kill you slowly”.
As emotionally satisfying as it would be to string Mugabe up by his toes (or other appendages) or to subject him to any other number of punishments he richly deserves, it’s more important to pry him lose from power and get some competent people in charge who are capable of putting a halt to the misery.
Not that I am sure it’s possible. Everything that made Zimbabwe the breadbasket of Africa has already been destroyed. The infrastructure is a total shambles, the farms have been broken up and looted, the political system is a nightmare to even think about.
It’s going to take the resources of a nation state — a wealthy nation state — to reestablish some kind of order there. And it won’t be easy.
Gee thanks liberals. Mugabe has been your creation from the very beginning. Aren’t you guys happy now?
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