Tsvangirai Seeks Embassy Refuge
| AR Articles on Zimbabwe |
|---|
| Zimbabwe: 23 Years of Black Rule (Jul. 2003) |
| Zim Over the Edge (May 2002) |
| War on African Whites (May 2001) |
| Thank You, Mr. Mugabe (Jul. 2000) |
| Heart of Darkness (June 2000) |
| Search AmRen.com for Zimbabwe |
| More news stories on Zimbabwe |
Zimbabwe’s opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has taken refuge in the Dutch embassy in the capital, Harare.
A Dutch foreign ministry spokesman said Mr Tsvangirai had spent the night at the embassy as he feared for his safety but had not requested asylum.
On Sunday, he announced he was withdrawing from a presidential election run-off in the face of violence from ruling party militias.
Zimbabwean officials have said the second round will still go ahead.
But Botswana’s Foreign Minister Pando Skelemani said leaders of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) would have to decide whether Zimbabwe could have a legitimate president in the current political climate.
“If in fact the atmosphere for an election is not free and fair you then can’t have someone having won,” he told the BBC.
“It would be the same as if you had been through the election and they are declared not free and fair, then you are back at square one.”
Ahead of a UN Security Council discussion about Zimbabwe, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said President Robert Mugabe’s regime “cannot be considered legitimate in the absence of a run-off”.
Mr Tsvangirai says pressure from the UN and Sadc could force Mr Mugabe to give up power.
“My assessment is that if there is a collective position by all Sadc leaders, that would be sufficient pressure—that voice is essential,” he told US National Public Radio.
“The conditions of the Security Council on Zimbabwe has one outcome that we will expect . . . to appoint a mission to investigate the level of abuses that have taken place—rape, torture, murder—and the various human rights abuse that has taken place.”
Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan told the BBC that he believed the elections should be postponed:
“Honestly, given what has happened, I doubt that anyone would accept the results, so they should put off the elections. But I think it is important that we all realise that Zimbabwe needs our help.”
Zimbabwe’s Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said Mr Tsvangirai’s announcement of his withdrawal was a ruse as he had not sent a formal notice yet.
Arrests
The BBC’s Peter Biles in Johannesburg says Mr Tsvangirai is now considering his next move, but he remains in the Dutch compound.
Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said that if Mr Tsvangirai was looking for safety at the diplomatic mission, he was welcome.
“We’ve seen the last weeks a new low in the tortured history of Zimbabwe and I think that Mr Mugabe no longer has any moral legitimacy in the eyes of the people of Zimbabwe,” she told the BBC.
Mr Tsvangirai blames supporters of President Mugabe and the ruling Zanu-PF party for the death of 86 of his supporters in the run-up to the second-round, due to be held on Friday.
On Monday, more than 60 supporters of Mr Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party were arrested at its Harare headquarters.
MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said those arrested were women and children who had fled political violence.
Zimbabwean police told AFP news agency they had only moved 39 people from the building for “hygiene reasons”.
President Mugabe and Zanu-PF blame the opposition for political violence across the country.
The MDC won the parliamentary vote in March, and claims to have won the first round of the presidential contest outright.
In the official results, Mr Tsvangirai led but failed to gain enough votes to avoid a run-off.
(Posted on June 23, 2008)
Comments
Mr Tsvangirai says pressure from the UN and Sadc could force Mr Mugabe to give up power.
Bwahahahahaha.
First of all Mugabe doesn’t have any power. He may be supreme emperor. But he is supreme emperor of a rubbish heap.
Second of all, the only group with less power and influence than him, is the UN.
Finally, no one cares. Mugabe is a marxist. And that is the ONLY thing the liberals who control most westernized governments, care about, even a little bit. He could ethnically cleanse half the population and you wouldn’t even read about it in a newspaper.
To a huge extent, it does not matter. Let’s say things were different. Liberals in the US actually cared about people. They demanded and got a full military mobilization into Zimbabwe. A month later, Mugabe is hanged, Saddam Hussein-style. Billions pour into the country (most of which is stolen). Martial law is instituted as the country is rebuilt from the ground up.
Ten years from now, it would just be another Mugabe doing the the same thing. His name would probably be Tsvangirai, if yo catch my drift.
The two IMPORTANT implications to take away from what is going on in Zimbabwe are that 1) whites need to leave….now. And 2) western aid, especially US aid to that country must cease.
Posted by at 6:30 PM on June 23
If the west does nothing, we’ll be accused of ignoring the plight of Africans. If we intervene and force him to leave and his replacement is a failure, we’ll be accused of meddling in the affairs of Africans.
When dealing with blacks, it’s always lose-lose.
Posted by sbuffalonative at 6:50 PM on June 23
Whitey to the rescue, as always.
Posted by Cassiodorus at 8:49 PM on June 23
Come on all you “Amrenners”. Did you expect anything else? After all it is Africa where the white man is systematically being booted out even though, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, the fact he is there is the only reason that some sort of modern society exists.
Mugabe is lauded by the other States as he is doing what they all want to do, and if he gets away with it, as he is, the rest will follow knowing that the rest of the civilised world will do nothing until the Chinese move in; and then it will be too late.
The easy answer acceptable to the west is for charges to be laid at the World Court against Mugabe and the other 130-odd members of his now banned from outside travel in the West (but not Africa) so they can be arrested. The evidence is there against especially Mugabe as a the leader of the 1980s genocide of the Matabele tribe, some 20 to 30 000 people. Is it any wonder the average African is too scared to stand up to such despots when we do not.
South Africa is following the same route and anyone who thinks of travelling to see the FIFA Soccer World Cup tournament in 2010 has to be certifiable. Did you see the photos and press reports of what they do to foreigners in South Africa? Put car tyres around their necks, pour in petrol and light it up. Lovely people with a unique way of welcoming foreigners to their country, don’t you think?
The next move will be demands for food aid as any global warming that has again caused the crop failures (that were never planted) is the “fault of the West”. Watch this space!.
Posted by Brian Deller, Marbella, Spain at 2:57 AM on June 24
On an interesting side note, I saw a BBC report some years ago about refugees from the Mugabe regime in Great Britain. As I recall, all the refugees were black. There wasn’t a single white among them. I wonder if this has been a deliberate British policy or simply a conincidence?
Posted by Sardonicus at 8:22 AM on June 24
Mugabe makes a good poster child for support of White ethnonationaism.
Posted by truthbetold at 11:40 AM on June 24
You know the Chinese are all over Africa making deals with every kind of despot pulling resources out of the continent at a dizzing speed. They don’t get involved in trying to make it a better place nor do they really care at all about Africans. Human rights don’t even make the list.
Perhaps we should swap out our rulebook for one of strict pragmatism when dealing with Africans like the Chinese whom we are building up to be the world’s greatest superpower next generation and eclipse us entirely.
Since we are going pragmatic, maybe we could stop building up the Chinese and start building up America again as well. Kill two birds with one stone. Deal with Africa in a way that benefits our national interests first and foremost and also change what we are doing with China.
Posted by Unemployed WASP at 11:49 AM on June 24