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President Robert Mugabe Is Still In Charge In Zimbabwe. Just As We Have Been Predicting

February 3, 2009

President Robert Mugabe Is Still In Charge In Zimbabwe. Just As We Have Been Predicting How ironic that despite all the so-called ‘international indignation’ and all the tough talk on the part of Western leaders, lasting for the whole of the last year and the year before, President Robert Mugabe is still running Zimbabwe and no one seems to be able to do anything about it.

The latest news coming from Harare is that Mugabe has struck a ‘powersharing deal’ with the opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangari, which allows the latter to become prime minister in a government of national unity. The deal was initially hailed as a sign of progress and there was even talk that at last the days of Mugabe could be coming to an end.

But here is the catch: Mugabe can sack Tsvangari at a moment’s notice, if he deems him to be incompetent. That sort of makes the future prime minister’s position not that strong at all. And considering the mess the Zimbabwean economy is in he could be relieved of his duties very soon indeed.

And there is more: according to the deal, Mugabe keeps control of the military, of the security services and the police. And in Zimbabwe that means that he would run the show. Especially as the head of the Central Bank, Gideon Gono, has been reappointed at his post. So not only is the army and the spooks and the cops are behind Mugabe but he will also control all the cash flow.

Some power sharing deal, eh?

The US and Britain have already stated that they will not deal with any government in Zimbabwe in which Mugabe has a role to play. No financial or economic assistance and no aid will be provided, Washington and London said, until that disgusting man stays in charge. That was a bit of a rash decision, considering that Mugabe runs not just the politics but pretty much everything else in the country. So Mr Tsvangari and his national unity government might find itself presiding over a deepening economic crisis without actually being able to do anything about it and very soon people would be calling on them to step down.

So the conclusion we, at StirringTroubleInternatiobally, are drawing is that Mugabe will stay in power for a while. And judging by our predictions last year we seem to be getting it right all the time.

For those of you who would like to read what we have been writing more than seven months ago about Mugabe we include our piece entitled, Robert Mugabe Will Stay On. Whatever Anyone Thinks Or Does, below. As they say, enjoy. Or don’t if you live in Zimbabwe.

Isn’t it remarkable how no one seems to be able to do anything about President Robert Mugabe? Western leaders are constantly expressing their concern about the situation in Zimbabwe, accuse Mugabe and his supporters of brutality and murder, threaten him with tough sanctions and isolation and, more recently, have even started hinting that he could be brought before the International Criminal Court in The Hague for war crimes.

But none of it works. Mugabe continues to do as he pleases and the way things are going he will stay on as president regardless of what happens this week in the presidential run-off election. He has already announced that the opposition would not be allowed to assume power, even if it won on June 27, so the whole so-called contest becomes totally meaningless anyway. The cunning fox is even hinting that he will stay on as president for life. ‘Only God who appointed me will remove me,’ he said. So that is several more years to wait then.

The saddest thing is that Mugabe will stay on whatever anyone thinks or does. Because all the talk about African nations ‘losing their patience’ and turning against him is just wishful thinking. Sure, some African leaders would be prepared to say this and that and might even hint that they are not very happy with what is happening in Zimbabwe. But none of them are going to do anything drastic, because deep down inside all those African rulers are themselves terrified of getting kicked out of their presidential palaces. Who on earth would want to create a precedent when a leader of a proud African  nation would be forced to step down by his neighbours just because a few hundred of his people got killed or wounded? That would not be healthy for the future of the whole continent, now would it?

And, of course, you should not forget that Mugabe has powerful friends outside Africa. How do China and Russia grab you? They are both permanent members of the UN Security Council and they would veto any resolution that implies some sort of international interference in Zimbabwe. The Western countries can’t even force to put Zimbabwe on the council’s agenda because apart from China and Russia other current members like Indonesia, Libya, Vietnam and South Africa don’t want to discuss the issue at all. What crisis in Zimbabwe? There is no crisis there, just a temporary malfunction of the democratic process.

I like, by the way, how Russia once again finds itself in good company when it comes to resolving pressing international matters. It always fascinates me how Moscow seems to prefer to hang out with the wrong crowd all the time and then gets very offended when someone makes a point about it. It must have all to do with its new assertive foreign policy: getting on the wrong side of the fence and feeling righteous about it.

But it is not only friends that help Mugabe to survive. The enemies too do not really feel like doing anything drastic too. The West obviously has no desire to get involved in another messy crisis. It has enough on its plate in Afghanistan and Iraq. Not to mention that it might be soon sucked into a regional crisis in the Middle East if Israel and the US go ahead with their plan and bomb Iran’s nuclear instillations. We know that Israel has recently rehearsed a full blown air raid against Iran in the eastern Mediterranean, in an area which lies roughly the same distance away from it as Iran. So the plan is still on. What we find very strange about this exercise is that for some reason the Greek air force took part in it, with Greece allowing Israel to use its air space. Now why on earth would the Greeks do that? What’s in it for them?

But back to Zimbabwe. The opposition over there has finally realised that there is not much it could do to change anything. The Movement for Democratic Change has today announced that it is pulling out of the forthcoming elections. The movement has already lost more than seventy of its members in the violence and obviously reckons that more of its people would die needlessly as day X approaches. Mugabe’s supporters are determined to see to it that their man stays on, so there is no point in hoping that a free and fair contest would be tolerated by them.

Some of the African experts we have spoken to were very pessimistic about any positive changes happening in Zimbabwe any time soon. One of them even said that Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC leader, does not really have a coherent programme to offer to the people of Zimbabwe. It is change for change’s sake, this expert said. But once they get to power they would probably be as bad as the current lot.

So there you have it. The situation in Zimbabwe is worsening by the day, more and more people are being killed and no one seems to be able to do anything about it. And once again the United Nations demonstrates that it is absolutely hopeless in resolving pressing international issues. And not just that, but the UN is not even seen as trying hard to do anything constructive. There they sit, the UN officials, in their cosy headquarters all over the world and ‘feel the pain’ of others from the comfort of their spacious offices. Absolutely hopeless, the lot of them. Why on earth do we all bother as taxpayers to pay for their keep? Close them down and forget about them.

The only solution we see at the moment is letting things run as they are and hope that either Mugabe dies of old age or that somebody from his inner circle finally decides that it is time for a change of leadership. Apart from that, the way things stand now there is no other viable solution available.

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