It's hard to imagine quite where the current diplomatic muddle around Zimbabwe will end. Will EU leaders at the Lisbon summit talk 'tough' to Mugabe, having seemingly condoned his political and economic mismanagement by lifting his EU travel ban? Can Mugabe's peers across Africa serve the role of 'critical friends', or will deference persist?
An interesting and thoughtful opinion piece in the South African Business Day today asserts that democratically elected African leaders - such as Kufuor in Ghana and Mbeki in South Africa - must draw on their popular mandate to take bolder steps. Kofi Bentil, a Ghanaian academic and consultant, argues that such boldness is needed not only in relation to Zimbabwe (on which he clearly believes African leaders are out of step with the 'vast majority' of their citizens) but on human rights abuses across the continent and on other areas such as economic reform. In short, Bentil argues that a more discerning form of leadership is required to facilitate the 'African renaissance' craved across the continent. The only way such leadership can be fostered is by many more Africans calling for it, loudly and publicly - and with the same thoughtfulness modelled by Bentil today.
Friday, December 7, 2007
Day Fifty-Seven: offering hope to Zimbabwe
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3 comments:
I’m not sure that allowing Mugabe to come to Portugal is condoning his political and economic mismanagement. It gives a rare opportunity for others to face him with reality. The only way the problems of Zimbabwe will be resolved is by diplomacy. In the West, Mugabe is presented as a paranoid megalomaniac presiding over ubiquitous human rights abuses and spiralling economic disaster, where inflation runs at over 7,000%, a loaf of bread costs Z$80,000 and prices can double overnight. To many Africans, he is a hero, the guerrilla fighter who ended white colonialism and who will have no truck with his country’s former oppressors. Gordon Brown staying away from Lisbon (after having failed to convince any other European leader to do likewise) has the support of all UK parties, but few European politicians: "If you are an international leader then you are going to have to be prepared to meet some people your mother would not like you to meet. That is what we have to do from time to time" (European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso).
Sending Baroness Amos in his place seems bizarre. If Brown should not meet Mugabe, why should anyone else? As Clare Short said on The World at One, why has Brown sent a “pseudo minister”? and, she went on, “ I think that it's not right to send her because she's black.” The whole situation is turning into Alice in Wonderland.
If Bentil is correct, and African leaders are out of step with the mood of the people, this mood will need to turn into political pressure. In the past, the attitude of Mbeki has seemed as immovable on Mugabe as it is on HIV – still, if Bentil senses that “the huge majority of Africans reject the barbaric Mugabe” there may be hope of change.
I'm not sure, Harry.
I think that Barroso and colleagues may not actually condone Mugabe's brutality towards his own people, but they appear to through this recent step - after all, they put a travel ban in place some time ago, to prevent Mugabe, his wife and other elites going shopping in Paris with taxpayers' money, and they just revoked that with nothing promised in return and not a particularly adequate explanation. (Barroso's comments are good soundbites, but little else.) And appearances are everything on this issue, where there is much posturing and thus far very little substance...
I would love for there to be a positive outcome for Zimbabwe arising from this meeting. Then I'll understand Barroso's stance. Until that point, I lean towards Brown's view, though I agree he has made a mess of things in practice.
It's not just in the West that Mugabe is 'presented as a paranoid megalomaniac'. Take a look at reader comments on 'www.news24.com' (a South African site) - sometimes the expletives thrown at Mugabe are so extreme they have to close debates down...
This makes me think that Bentil is on to something. It may only be a matter of time until Zimbabwe sees change.
... I'm with eazibee on this: if we're using the stick of travel restrictions against Zimbabwe leaders, we should at least be consistent in the use of it (and I'm bemused why so many other EU leaders have ambled away from this policy without much protest and why, indeed, the Commission President has even ridiculed it).
The flip-side, of course, is carrots. We need to be ready to offer these swiftly, effectively and collectively when changes come. And there's no harm discussing what these should be in Mugabe's presence, if only for the joy of the embarrassment factor!
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