Zimbabwe opposition forced out of rigged runoff

Capping a week I wish I could wipe out of existence, the MDC has reluctantly pulled out of the runoff election for the Zimbabwean presidency scheduled for June 27. Morgan Tsvangirai, who was almost certainly elected president free and clear in the voting on March 29, lays out the obstacles that made it impossible to continue. The list makes me ashamed of my readiness to throw up my hands in the face of setbacks.

The failure of the governments of Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, and South Africa to provide real security for the elections is particularly sad. Liberation struggles that built people-to-people ties of solidarity continue to be sold out by cronyism among "leaders."

One-party rule is poison, whether official or de facto.

Zimbabwe update

The level of violence against Zimbabweans suspected of supporting the MDC, the party that won the March 29 elections, has soared. Hundreds of people have had to seek medical attention after being beaten, cut, and worse.

The full results of the election have still not been released, and there is no word on when the supposed runoff election between Mugabe and Tsvangirai, the MDC candidate, will take place. Or even if the MDC will take part, given the horrific level of violence and obvious rigging of results by the electoral commission, and the lack of any proposals by other governments so far to help assure conditions for a legitimate vote.

In this context, I felt somewhat awkward about focusing an update to my previous post on the Chinese ship carrying weapons intended for the Mugabe forces, which is now sitting just outside the port of Luanda, Angola. A blogger at This is Zimbabwe relieved that concern by explaining why the ship is a focal point in this crisis:

Nothing is conclusive at this stage, but there are three reasons why this story is important, even if, as we write, more weapons are possibly coming in invisibly via other routes:

1. The need to prevent weapons coming in to Zimbabwe is critical: politically motivated and politically directed murders are increasing in Zimbabwe.
2. As cynical as this may sound, the story galvanises people in a way stories of battered and tortured people cannot; most likely because this is something that people feel they can try and help with and becaiuse they directly associate this ship with those victims.
3. For me personally, the story is important because it is also forcing countries in the region to ‘nail their colours to the mast’, so to speak. In the open glare of the public eye, this story shows us which nations are concerned for the safety of the Zimbabwean people, and which ones are more concerned with the loyalty to the Zanu PF regime.

African nations surrounding Zimbabwe are the powers with the most realistic chance to intervene in a way that can allow the democratic process to proceed. Please appeal to them to do so.

Zimbabwe - arms race

There is a Chinese ship carrying weapons intended for delivery to Mugabe's forces. It was turned away at the port of Durban after the South African transport workers refused to unload them, a decision upheld by a judge. (Once again, no thanks to the current SA government, which disgracefully was quite willing to let the weapons be shipped across SA to Zimbabwe. Unions, churches, and concerned citizens prevented the transit of the weapons.)

After efforts to make arrangements to offload in Mozambique, whose authorities refused permission to dock, the ship is now heading for Angola.

The results of the Zimbabwe election, now three weeks in the past, are still not being released, and there is every sign that Mugabe and ZANU-PF want to have these weapons -- 70 tons of mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, and AK-47 ammunition -- before the results of their fraudulent "recount" are announced. Ten Chinese officers carrying revolvers have checked in at the Holiday Inn in Mutare, Zimbabwe, where about 70 senior officers of the Zimbabwean army are also staying. They are going back and forth between the hotel and the army headquarters. The official line, which we've heard from our own government in many similar situations, is that they're there to protect their country's economic interests. But the weapons shipment and the meetings make it look very much as if they're advising and assisting Mugabe's efforts to subdue the population and thwart democracy.

Actions around the world (see end of this post) are helping Zimbabweans to know they're not alone as the crisis deepens. Continue to urge the African Union and regional body SADC to send a delegation to Harare to support the demand for immediate release of the election results. Urge the government of Angola to refuse transit to the Chinese weapons shipment (link to details to follow).

Let them know they're not alone

Zimbabweans who have voted for a new government have once again been let down by their most powerful potential ally. All of us who have looked to our Congressional representatives for help in resisting the creeping dictatorship in this country can identify with the feelings of democratic activists in Zimbabwe working to throw off an entrenched dictatorship:

I’m struggling to write this because I am angry, I feel sick, and yes, I am crying over my keyboard.

[South African President Thabo] Mbeki, after going to Harare to see Mugabe, says today that there is “no crisis”…

I cannot believe I am so upset - again - because whenever I know Thabo Mbeki is about to meet to discuss anything to do with the Zimbabwean crisis, I steel myself for extreme disappointment. He never fails to deliver, so why do I stupidly, even when I expect it, feel dumbfounded when it comes?!

A general strike has been called for next Tuesday to demand the publication of the election results. Meanwhile, the houses of opposition candidates are being burned, and supporters are being beaten. Follow the news at Action for Southern Africa.

Human solidarity is what the people of Zimbabwe need now. Despite Mbeki's disgraceful, apparently unshakable support of Mugabe, continue to pressure the governments of Southern Africa, individually and through their regional body SADC, to back the demand that election results be released. To his credit, Jacob Zuma, African National Congress candidate to succeed Mbeki as president of South Africa, has joined this call.

Via Thomas Nephew at Newsrack. Image from Sokwanele blog of burned-out house in western Zimbabwe.