Vote Mugabe or die

I want to concur with the (IMHO) important question.....

Where are South Africa and the neighbor states. Zimbabwe, according to all blog pundits has a seasoned and well-trained military. (Haven't we heard that before? Just wait 'til they try to take Baghdad! Then they'll be up against the crack troops of the Revolutionary Guard.) From everything I've seen, the Zimbabwean military excels at encircling motorcades of journalists and visitors, burning out squatters, and beating up political opponents and their supporters.

What would be required, unfortunately, would be getting Angola, Zambia, and Mozambique to sit at a table and actually agree to something for a change (with South Africa, of course).

No amount of condemnation in the parliaments of Europe or North America is going to do anything if it's not backed up, and there's no way that any of those countries, nor the UN, are going to sanction any military action against a land-locked African country without support from at lest two of the border states.

There are a lot of African leaders, though, who don't want to do a thing. Oppressive regimes have been commonplace on the continent, and they always come and go. Besides, any form of a three or four country alliance to force a settlement on another state makes them nervous. Every country has three to five neighbors, and they don't want the precedent to be set. You could be next year's Mugabe, after all.
 
What would be required, unfortunately, would be getting Angola, Zambia, and Mozambique to sit at a table and actually agree to something for a change (with South Africa, of course).
Those countries are also ruled by the same parties/fighters who struggled against Western colonialism 30 years ago, and back then were comrades in arms of Mugabe's. And in the case of Angola, it has suffered a decades-long "civil war" by the Western and apartheid-South-African sponsored "rebel" movement of UNITA. So any action against Zimbabwe from Western states will be looked on with much suspicion. Vis-a-vis those countries, it is very important to stress that there is a Zimbabwan opposition, and a humanitarian disaster unfolding, and that actions against Mugabe have nothing to do with Western neo-colonialism.
 
Those countries are also ruled by the same parties/fighters who struggled against Western colonialism 30 years ago, and back then were comrades in arms of Mugabe's. And in the case of Angola, it has suffered a decades-long "civil war" by the Western and apartheid-South-African sponsored "rebel" movement of UNITA. So any action against Zimbabwe from Western states will be looked on with much suspicion. Vis-a-vis those countries, it is very important to stress that there is a Zimbabwan opposition, and a humanitarian disaster unfolding, and that actions against Mugabe have nothing to do with Western neo-colonialism.

I concur... I didn't want to go into any country's military capabilities and/or problems, as the post would've taken up four pages. Mozambique, for instance, gave sanctuary to ANC allied resistance fighters, as did Mugabe. There are certain ties, I feel, that have neighboring countries just hoping he'd die in his sleep or that one of his bodyguards will take him out.
 
Another Update:

Video shows Zimbabwe 'vote-rigging'

*snip* Once there, a supporter of Mugabe's ZANU-PF party instructs the guards to vote by postal ballot while he watches. The ZANU-PF supporter takes careful note of the guards' ballot numbers and which candidate they vote for, and even helps a guard properly fold his ballot and put it inside the envelope. *snip*

Sourcy:
Http://us.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/07/05/zimbabwe.video/index.html#cnnSTCText


Video: Exclusive: secret film reveals how Mugabe stole an election
 
Even when running unopposed, Mugabe still has to rig the election. I'm starting to think he just does it for fun.
 
Miliband is looking to get a UN resolution this week or something. Sanctions probably.

The resolution would require nations to freeze the financial assets of Mugabe and 11 of his officials, and restrict their travel to within Zimbabwe.
 
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Ethnic cleansing, by any other name, still smells of feces.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...d-to-quit.html


Russia and China just vetoed a sanctions resolution at the UN. So much for help from that quarter.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080711/ts_nm/zimbabwe_crisis_un_dc
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russia and China vetoed on Friday a Western-backed U.N. Security Council resolution to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe for holding a violent presidential poll that was boycotted by the opposition candidate.
 

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