The United States has urged South Africa to help international efforts to end a violent crackdown on the political opposition to Zimbabwe’s long-time ruler, Robert Mugabe, a senior official said on Tuesday.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice raised the issue during a phone call with her South African counterpart, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, on Friday, State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack said.
”One thing we are looking for from the South African government is to lend their voice to efforts to stop the political violence that is ongoing in Zimbabwe,” McCormack said.
He said Washington also hopes South Africa will boost its effort to help improve ”the really increasingly bad economic situation” in Zimbabwe.
South Africa, the regional powerhouse, has been widely criticised for not doing more to curb the crackdown on Zimbabwe’s political opposition by Mugabe, who has ruled the country since independence in 1980.
Mugabe’s government came under international condemnation last week for violently breaking up an opposition rally during which senior politicians were severely beaten and arrested.
South Africa, which has long pursued a policy of ”quiet diplomacy” towards its northern neighbor, has called for Zimbabwe to respect the rights of all its citizens, but the comments stop short of some of the expressions of outrage that have been heard elsewhere.
It issued its strongest criticism of Zimbabwe to date on Tuesday, but said it will stick to its policy of quiet diplomacy because open criticism has yielded no results.
”The beating and violence against any citizens of Zimbabwe is obviously unacceptable to us as government,” South African Cabinet spokesperson Themba Maseko said.
The US said last week it was considering widening a programme of bilateral sanctions that is already in place against Mugabe and his immediate coterie.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Council of Non-Governmental Organisations has called on the chairperson of the SADC region, Pakalitha Mosisili, to convene a special summit to discuss the political situation in Zimbabwe.
”We believe that the crisis has reached a point where Zimbabweans need to be strongly persuaded and directly assisted to find an urgent solution to the crisis that affects the entire region,” said the council in a statement on Tuesday.
Tipping point
The US ambassador to Zimbabwe said on Tuesday that the opposition to Mugabe has reached a tipping point in that country because the people no longer fear the regime and believe they have nothing left to lose.
Christopher Dell said in an interview with the Associated Press that the government and Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party are in disarray, can no longer govern effectively and that growing numbers within the regime and the party want Mugabe to step down.
Many of the elements often associated with a coup or revolution are present in Zimbabwe, said Dell, who stressed he was not advocating or predicting any violent overthrow of the government.
But he noted there is disaffection within the ruling party, the military and a split in security forces. The economy is in freefall and the people believe the government is taking away their last hope.
”The key new element in the equation that has become obvious over the past 10 to 12 days is the new spirit of resistance, some would say defiance, on the part of the people,” said Dell. ”The people have lost their willingness to go on. They are losing their fear. They are not afraid any more. They believe they have nothing left to lose.”
Mugabe has stayed in power for 27 years, he said, largely because of his very effective use of violence and intimidation.
Embarrassed silence
”We have urged other African governments to speak out more strongly and some of them have,” said Dell. ”The one thing you will notice is none of them are speaking up in Mugabe’s defence any more. There is a kind of embarrassed silence in the region now.
”I think the scenes we have witnessed in the last few weeks of the black police and security forces of an African government assaulting its own people is shockingly reminiscent of what happened in South Africa during the apartheid era.”
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa on Tuesday called for a fresh start in African countries’ negotiations with Zimbabwe, likening the country to a ”sinking Titanic” that needs help.
He did not mention Harare by name, but said SADC member states should ”rise and lend a helping hand when one of them should run into serious difficulties”.
Earlier on Tuesday, Namibian Information Minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah acknowledged the public outcry about the internal security situation in Zimbabwe and said the Namibian government will never condone violence.
”Namibia is, therefore, of the opinion that peace and stability in Zimbabwe is important to allow the citizens of that country to continue with their normal lives,” she told a press briefing.
Reluctant police
Dell said the violence directed against black Zimbabweans by the government is causing a split in the security forces. He said rank-and-file police officers are increasingly reluctant to carry out such attacks.
The police themselves are pointing out to opposition activists arrested and savagely beaten while in custody on March 12 that the attacks were carried out by Mugabe’s secret police and the Green Bombers, Zanu-PF’s militant youth militia.
”Police are trying to distance themselves from the repression. Police officers feel insecure. We are told some are afraid to wear their uniforms back and forth to work,” said Dell, who noted most of the police live in the poor, high-density suburbs and are afraid of reprisals from their neighbours.
At the same time of a new spirit of resistance among the people, Dell said tensions within Zanu-PF are rising, largely because of the impending succession question. Mugabe is 83 and under pressure. He has indicated he might run for another term next year, but many in the party want him to step down now and there is fighting over who will succeed him. — Sapa-AFP, Sapa-AP