Mugabe's Days Numbered In Zimbabwe?
The U.S. ambassador to Zimbabwe said Tuesday that opposition to President Robert Mugabe has reached a tipping point because the people no longer fear the regime and believe they have nothing left to lose.
Zimbabwe's government and party are in disarray and can no longer govern effectively, U.S. Ambassador Christopher Dell said in an interview with The Associated Press. Growing numbers within the regime and the party also want Mugabe to step down, he said.
Dell stressed he was not advocating or predicting any violent overthrow of the government, but noted there was disaffection within 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, he said.
"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," Dell said.
"The people have lost their willingness to go on. They are losing their fear," he added. "They believe they have nothing left to lose."
Mugabe's government has come under increasing international criticism for its treatment of the opposition, with activists alleging police have disrupted their gatherings and beaten their leaders.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, seen at left in a hospital bed on March 14, was among those assaulted when police broke up a March 11 prayer meeting, his supporters say.
Opposition activist Sekai Holland, 64, told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio in an interview Wednesday that she was severely beaten while in police custody and she will die if she is barred from leaving Zimbabwe for medical treatment.
"Of course I will die. I will have an early death," Holland said, speaking secretly from her hospital bed on a borrowed cell phone in the capital, Harare.
Holland said she was arrested as she attempted to board a flight to South Africa on Saturday and was under police guard at the hospital.
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change reported new abuses Tuesday, saying 35 of its supporters were hospitalized from beatings by ruling party youths and state agents patrolling townships in unmarked vehicles.
"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 defense anymore. There is a kind of embarrassed silence in the region now."
South Africa issued its strongest criticism of Zimbabwe to date on Tuesday but said it would stick to its policy of quiet diplomacy because open criticism had yielded no results.
"The beating and violence against any citizens of Zimbabwe is obviously unacceptable to us as government," South African Cabinet spokesman Themba Maseko said.
In Zimbabwe, Tsvangirai met with South Africa's ambassador on Tuesday to protest the silence of African leaders "while these atrocities are being perpetrated by one of their number."
Tsvangirai said the silence made a "complete mockery" of South Africa's abolition of apartheid and its transition to democracy, the opposition said in a statement.
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa — who takes over the presidency of the 13-nation Southern African Development Community in August — said Tuesday that he hoped the bloc would develop a common stance on the crisis in the coming days.
Dell said the violence directed against Zimbabweans by the government was causing a split in the security forces. He said rank-and-file police officers increasingly were reluctant to carry out such attacks.
Dell said the police themselves were telling opposition activists arrested and savagely beaten while in custody that the attacks were carried out by Mugabe's secret police and the Green Bombers, the ruling 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, noting that most police live in the poor, high-density suburbs of Harare and are afraid of reprisals from their neighbors.
Mugabe, he said, has always ruled with a combination of repression and patronage. But with a collapsing economy, he can no longer provide adequate patronage. A regular police officer, Dell said, makes only about $20 a month and is also suffering from the economic freefall.
The economy, he said, is falling so fast, that in just the last eight weeks the Zimbabwe dollar has gone from 5,000 to the U.S. dollar on the black market to 20,000.
Tensions within the ruling ZANU-PF party are rising, he added, largely because of the impending succession question. Mugabe, 83, 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, said Dell.
© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Zimbabwe's government and party are in disarray and can no longer govern effectively, U.S. Ambassador Christopher Dell said in an interview with The Associated Press. Growing numbers within the regime and the party also want Mugabe to step down, he said.
Dell stressed he was not advocating or predicting any violent overthrow of the government, but noted there was disaffection within 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, he said.
"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," Dell said.
"The people have lost their willingness to go on. They are losing their fear," he added. "They believe they have nothing left to lose."
Mugabe's government has come under increasing international criticism for its treatment of the opposition, with activists alleging police have disrupted their gatherings and beaten their leaders.
(DESMOND KWANDE/AFP/Getty Images)
Opposition activist Sekai Holland, 64, told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio in an interview Wednesday that she was severely beaten while in police custody and she will die if she is barred from leaving Zimbabwe for medical treatment.
"Of course I will die. I will have an early death," Holland said, speaking secretly from her hospital bed on a borrowed cell phone in the capital, Harare.
Holland said she was arrested as she attempted to board a flight to South Africa on Saturday and was under police guard at the hospital.
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change reported new abuses Tuesday, saying 35 of its supporters were hospitalized from beatings by ruling party youths and state agents patrolling townships in unmarked vehicles.
"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 defense anymore. There is a kind of embarrassed silence in the region now."
South Africa issued its strongest criticism of Zimbabwe to date on Tuesday but said it would stick to its policy of quiet diplomacy because open criticism had yielded no results.
"The beating and violence against any citizens of Zimbabwe is obviously unacceptable to us as government," South African Cabinet spokesman Themba Maseko said.
In Zimbabwe, Tsvangirai met with South Africa's ambassador on Tuesday to protest the silence of African leaders "while these atrocities are being perpetrated by one of their number."
Tsvangirai said the silence made a "complete mockery" of South Africa's abolition of apartheid and its transition to democracy, the opposition said in a statement.
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa — who takes over the presidency of the 13-nation Southern African Development Community in August — said Tuesday that he hoped the bloc would develop a common stance on the crisis in the coming days.
Dell said the violence directed against Zimbabweans by the government was causing a split in the security forces. He said rank-and-file police officers increasingly were reluctant to carry out such attacks.
Dell said the police themselves were telling opposition activists arrested and savagely beaten while in custody that the attacks were carried out by Mugabe's secret police and the Green Bombers, the ruling 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, noting that most police live in the poor, high-density suburbs of Harare and are afraid of reprisals from their neighbors.
Mugabe, he said, has always ruled with a combination of repression and patronage. But with a collapsing economy, he can no longer provide adequate patronage. A regular police officer, Dell said, makes only about $20 a month and is also suffering from the economic freefall.
The economy, he said, is falling so fast, that in just the last eight weeks the Zimbabwe dollar has gone from 5,000 to the U.S. dollar on the black market to 20,000.
Tensions within the ruling ZANU-PF party are rising, he added, largely because of the impending succession question. Mugabe, 83, 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, said Dell.
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What so-called 'genocide' in Zimbabwe.
You are frothing at the mouth with the lies. LOL
Genocide is what is taking place in Iraq with 1 million Iraqi people shocked, awed, murdered and maimed.
And genocide is what's taking place in Dafur with the maniac muslims.
The crime and imprisonment rate in the US is higher than in Zimbabwe. Check it out.
When we misuse words we diminish their meaning.
You are only p!ssed because farin thieves have been DISPOSSESSED OF STOLEN AFRICAN LOOT in Zimbabwe! Get over it; and the world will be a better place for ALL! LOL
You are obviously of the same ilk as Mugabe, twisted, evil and corrupt. You are supporting Genocide and you are like him, not fit to inhabit this world or any other.
Racial equality is just another means of subjugating the people by government. I know lets put a person in power just because of the color of his skin and see how that turns out! What about Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's Put in power in Rhodesia by America and Britain under the Christian Crusade of Racial Equality where once in power he kills all the white farmers gives their land to peasants so the economy collapses now people are eating rats in the streets of the capitol. Oh yea he hires North Korean Army for body guards and has them kill his own people! This turn of events may have had something to do with the fact that originally Rhodesia was the first African Country to Break away from British Colonial Rule under the White minority earning their countries rights to keep the profits of their farming and mineral deposits. So Britain teams up with America and deposes their government for this outrage.
Posted by bluestardad at 08:51 AM : Mar 21, 2007"
LOL
You lie like a pig in filth. Oink oink. LOL
First of all your so-called 'white farmers' are IN FACT INVADING THIEVES, MURDERERS, RAPISTS, ENSLAVERS, COLONIZERS, etc, etc.
And maybe you do think they should be killed; but that was never ZANU-PF style. There are a lot more killings and IMPRISONMENT going on in the US than in Zimbabwe.
All the western propaganda is coming as a result of invading thieves somehow want to impose themselves on African people, lay claim to AFRICAN LANDS AND RESOURCES, and the African resist, will resist, and RIGHTLY so! LOL
Instead of trying to make peace in the world, we are always making problems, hence 911; but still we don't learn.
We need to lead the world to a better place. Evil empires don't enjoy longevity.
EVERYBODY'S days are numbered! EVERYONE!
And besides, Mugabe is 80 years old. LOL
Those who like to interfere in other nation's affairs and dictate the destiny of Zimbabwe forget that millions of Africans of the ZANU-PF fought with Mugabe to liberate Zimbabwe from the grips of foreign thieves.
And ZANU's days are very LONG and MANY! LOL
Mugabe is magnanimous compared to others.
If we were wise, we should wish Mugabe lives long and prosper for the invading foreign thieves will never again get a foothold in Zimbabwe. LOL
I'm certain that if Black people knew of this scam they would boycott these hotels to help the people of Zimbabwe. The time as come for the ordinary people to act, because for some reason our governments will not.
thanks
Dont tell me Your government did not know this, they and the British did know and kept up the funding. They are as culpable as is Mugabe, it is an absolute disgrace and an afront to humanity.