Boston Globe Editorial (3/8/02) At stake in Zimbabwe [Full Text] PRESIDENT ROBERT Mugabe of Zimbabwe and other African leaders are telling European nations not to get involved in Zimbabwe's election this weekend. The obligation is therefore on African observers to make sure the vote is honest. If Mugabe fixes this election, African nations have a responsibility to make that call as well so Mugabe is subject to the full weight of international censure until he leaves power.
At a meeting of the Commonwealth nations this week, Africans told Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair that they would not endorse sanctions against Zimbabwe to punish Mugabe for previous efforts to throttle the opposition. This inaction makes sense only if it is accompanied by a resolve to make Mugabe and his cronies suffer if they steal the current election. So far the Africans have not been speaking toughly in public.
Mugabe is running on his record as a liberator of his country 22 years ago and as an enemy of white domination. ''We are not learners being put in a class by Britain, less still by a young politician like Blair,'' Mugabe said in a campaign speech. ''He has a lot to learn.''
Mugabe still has much to learn about democratic practices. He has sent gangs of thugs to terrorize the opposition, pressured his supporters in Parliament to approve a law to intimidate the press, grabbed land from white farmers without compensation, and expelled the chief election observer from the European Union (the other EU observers left the country because they could not do their work properly). All this to perpetuate a government awash in graft and mismanagement, so much so that Zimbabwe, once an exporter of food, cannot feed itself.
Voters need to decide freely whether Morgan Tsvangirai, a union leader, is the right replacement. He is far from perfect, having been caught on a videotape at a meeting where the subject of Mugabe's assassination was discussed (though some claim the tape was doctored). He draws financial support from white landowners, which may inhibit his ability to redistribute land to black Zimbabweans who rightly believe it was stolen from them more than a century ago.
The United States and nations in the European Union have already imposed restrictions on the assets of Mugabe and his top supporters for past antidemocratic practices. These nations need to inform Mugabe that their sanctions will be toughened if the election is rigged. Mugabe could easily dismiss their threat as the work of modern colonialists, but he cannot ignore the advice of African presidents such as Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria. They and other leaders of the emerging democracies in Africa need to convince Mugabe that unless the vote is honestly held, he and his regime will be pariahs on the continent. [End]
This story ran on page A18 of the Boston Globe on 3/8/2002. © Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.