 |
|
Why Africa won't rein in Mugabe
African leaders recently chose Zimbabwe to chair the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, despite strong objections from Western countries.
from the May 16, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
Why Mugabe resonates in Africa
"The resonance behind what Mugabe says is a result of what Africans see as the duplicity of the Western international institutions" such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, says Chris Maroleng, a top Zimbabwe expert at the Institute for Security Studies in Tshwane. There is anger over "the imposition of the conditions on aid," he says.
But while he understands the reasons for this gap between Africa and the West, he sees the selection of Zimbabwe to head the UN Commission for Sustainable Development as a mistake. "By hoisting the mantle of a known autocrat and dictator in order to make a statement is regrettable. Certainly there is a need for more African voices on development issues. But I don't think that Mugabe is that poster boy."
For the West, Zimbabwe is a pariah nation. British newspapers regularly refer to Mugabe as "Mad Bob," and Australia said Monday it would spend $15 million backing Mugabe's critics, just a day after banning the cricket tour. But for many in Africa, Mugabe is something of a hero. He's seen as a man who took land away from whites whose ancestors swindled or stole the land from blacks nearly a century ago.
This is not the first time Africa has shown its independence on matters of international import. Over the past decade, African leaders have welcomed Chinese development loans, which, unlike those of the World Bank, don't make aid conditional on economic or political reforms. In its year-long stint on the UN Security Council, South Africa has voted against sanctioning Burma and Zimbabwe for their human rights records and backed Iran's efforts to avoid sanctions because of its uranium-enrichment programs.
At a March 28 conference of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, South African President Thabo Mbeki called for African unity above all.
"The fight against Zimbabwe is a fight against us all. Today it is Zimbabwe; tomorrow it will be South Africa, it will be Mozambique, it will be Angola, it will be any other African country. And any government that is perceived to be strong and to be resistant to imperialists would be made a target and would be undermined. So let us not allow any point of weakness in the solidarity of SADC, because that weakness will also be transferred to the rest of Africa."
At the end of the conference, African leaders threw their unanimous support behind Zimbabwe's Mugabe and called on Mr. Mbeki (not the West) to mediate between Mugabe and the political opposition. Leaders who had been critical of Mugabe before the conference, including Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, fell silent.
RSS feed
