Posted on 04/19/2003 2:25:42 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
NEW YORK - As the world's collective attention remains rightly on the US-led war in Iraq and the effort to oust Saddam Hussein, another brutal dictator thousands of miles away continues to inflict unprecedented violence and terror upon his own people, largely under the global radar. Two days of national strikes organized last month by Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) protesting dictator Robert Mugabe's regime have resulted in hundreds of arrests, at least one death, and allegations of widespread torture by police and government forces.
Mr. Mugabe's own day of reckoning, however, may be near. The opposition MDC kept two critical seats in Zimbabwe's parliament in by-elections last weekend, further solidifying its control of the capital, where it holds all 17 seats. The election results came a day before the expiration of an opposition ultimatum calling on the government to address its human rights abuses and restore such democratic institutions as freedom of the press. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai called the developments a "final push for freedom."
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe lights a torch during Independence celebrations in Harare, Zimbabwe, Friday, April 18, 2003. Zimbabwe is marking the 23rd anniversary of independence from British colonial rule Friday, with Mugabe praising the land redistribution program which he said was a success. (AP Photo/str)
Mugabe, who recently warned that those who play with fire "will not only be burnt but consumed," has never been one to mince words. A communist-cum-African-populist, his tenor as the president for the past 23 years has been nothing short of a reign of terror for those outside his one-party system. The erratic African president drew further attention to himself in the aftermath of the most recent crackdown by making a bizarre comparison of his leadership style to that of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
Mugabe rules by fear. At the end of Zimbabwe's second chimurenga, or uprising against white rule in 1980, he made apt use of his North Korean-trained 5th Brigade to wipe out thousands of Ndebele minorities rebelling in the southwest corner of Zimbabwe - an act many refer to as genocide. The uprising of the Ndebele and their subsequent slaughter can be likened to the Iraqi crackdown on southern Shiite Muslims following the first Gulf War in 1991.
Press restrictions implemented by Mugabe after what Western officials say was a staged reelection last year put Zimbabwe on par with Iraq, North Korea, and Iran. Following last month's strikes, foreign media and human rights groups, though tightly monitored by the regime, filed reports of broken limbs, sexual assault, and electric torture at a rate that should set off international alarm. Mugabe's land-reform program has rendered what was once a surplus provider of maize into a welfare state largely dependent on government-distributed international food aid. Opposition groups charge that their members are denied food because of their refusal to support the regime.
While Zimbabwe's suspension from the British Commonwealth and the current travel ban on top Zimbabwean officials are a step in the right direction, little has been done to stop the ongoing violence.
As the US-led coalition moves forward to liberate the Iraqi people, let us not forget President Bush's recent reprimand of the UN for its failure to take action in places like Bosnia and Rwanda. If the fire in Zimbabwe is allowed to continue to burn unattended, it is the international community that may once again be consumed.
o Robert Nolan, a former Peace Corps volunteer in Zimbabwe, is the online editor at the Foreign Policy Association.
Fighting the French on this issue - remember, to Blair's exasperation, the French invited Mugabe to an African conference in Paris.
Regards, Ivan
No. He doesn't have the instincts for that. He stuck with us but did not see that success would wipt the PR slate clean. His attempts for a second UN resolution almost doomed the enterprise. Now he's trying to bring the EU and UN into the rebuilding.
If he were a leader for the ages he's abandon the EU and join in a US-UK-Australian Free Trade Association.
The vote marked a break from the practice of agreeing to appointments by consensus and underscored US opposition to Tripoli's candidacy, mostly over the 1988 bombing of a PanAm jetliner over Lockerbie. "Libya's government continues to commit serious human rights violations," US Ambassador Kevin Moley told reporters after the meeting, adding that Libya did not deserve "a leadership role in the UN system". In Tripoli, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassuna al-Shawsh hailed the outcome of the vote as a "shining victory" adding that it showed that "Libya has a clean sheet with regard to human rights."
Libya, the sole candidate, was proposed by South Africa on behalf of the African group, whose turn it was to make the nomination under a system of annual rotation among the five main geographical regions. The ambassador from Israel, which is not a commission member, condemned the selection of a country "which has ordered the downing of two passenger airlines and the bombing of a discotheque in Europe". Ambassador Yaakov Levy was referring to the Lockerbie bombing that killed 259 people onboard and 11 on the ground, as well as the 1989 downing of a UTA plane over Niger in which 170 people died, and an attack on a West Berlin disco in 1986. Levy said the selection "marks a new low in the cynical manipulation of UN bodies by parties who preach human rights to others but refrain from practising them at home". The US ambassador also said it was time to "begin rebuilding the UN Commission on Human Rights into a body that fulfills its original mandate to champion democracy, freedom and the human rights of all people". Other than the United States, Canada voted against Libya's candidacy, according to the US ambassador.
THE third country was not immediately known. Diplomatic sources had hinted ahead of Monday's meeting that Libya was likely to survive the vote, indicating that the European Union states were likely to abstain. Seven EU states are currently members of the Commission. The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) had also opposed Libya's candidacy and lobbied South Africa, Senegal and Nigeria to select a country that "respects the Commission and its rapporteurs," said HRW spokeswoman Loubna Freih. She added that the procedure could hardly be called an election since there had been just one candidate. HRW and the Paris-based Federation of International Human Rights Groups (FIDH) have questioned the credibility of the way the Commission's members and leading positions are appointed.
Established in 1946, the world's highest human rights body meets annually for six weeks here to shed light on abuses worldwide. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Sergio Vieira de Mello cut short a visit to Africa, his first field mission since taking over the job last September, to return to Geneva for the meeting. In his opening speech, the UN official told members that the session offered "a unique opportunity for the Commission to demonstrate that it can manage with wisdom, speed and restraint its procedural business". Washington has itself only just returned to the UN Commission's fold after losing its seat in 2001, in a move widely regarded at the time as punishment to the United States for its perceived unilateralism in foreign policy.
Absent in 2002, and after intense lobbying, the US managed to win re-election for 2003. The UN Commission will hold its annual meeting from March 17 to April 25, during which it will examine reports on human rights in several countries. [End]
. . . and Bush knows it.Clinton was, in Rush's words, "symbolism over substance."
Bush is symbolism and substance.
Bush ostentatiously gives the Dems what doesn't matter to him, and steers a true course on the things that do matter.P41 derided "the vision thing," P41 has vision.
P41 derided "the vision thing," P43 has vision.
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