World Condemnation Of Zimbabwe Grows

As Opposition Leader Calls For Peacekeepers, World Leaders Lament "Sham" Elections

(CBS/AP)  Zimbabwe plunged deeper into international isolation before a widely derided presidential runoff, as Britain's Queen Elizabeth II stripped Robert Mugabe of his knighthood in the most high-profile rebuke to date of his regime of terror.

Nelson Mandela spoke Wednesday in London at his 90th birthday celebration and lamented "the tragic failure of leadership in our neighboring Zimbabwe" - a stunning indictment of his old friend Mugabe, reports CBS Evening News Anchor Katie Couric.

President Bush said Friday's run-off elections "appear to be a sham," and a meeting of Southern African regional leaders normally strongly sympathetic to Mugabe said the runoff should be postponed.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Mugabe on Thursday against declaring victory in what she said would be an illegitimate run-off vote.

With the opposition boycotting Friday's election due to ruling party violence and intimidation, Rice said no outcome would be acceptable and that Mugabe must allow a legitimate government to take power.

"Clearly, no run-off election that doesn't have the participation of opposition... can be considered legitimate, no outcome can be considered legitimate," she said in Kyoto, where she was attending a meeting of foreign ministers from the Group of Eight industrialized nations.

Tougher sanctions, sporting bans, even economic boycotts could be next - and world support may build for Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai's pleas for U.N. peacekeepers.

Tsvangirai made the call for peacekeepers in a commentary published in British newspaper The Guardian Wednesday. Asked about that at a news conference later in Harare, Tsvangirai said: "What do you do when you don't have guns and the people are being brutalized out there?"

He stressed he was not calling for military intervention.

Deploying peacekeepers requires an international consensus that can be hard to build, and efforts can be blocked by governments expected to host contingents. South African Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad noted Wednesday that efforts to deploy an AU-UN peacekeeping force for Sudan's Darfur have been stalled.

The international community, though, has been considering, and taking, other actions on Zimbabwe.

The unusual move from Queen Elizabeth puts Mugabe in the company of the late Romanian leader Nicolae Ceausescu, who was stripped of his title in 1989 at the height of the Balkan nation's revolution. The queen acted on the advice of her Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who has pointed to widespread violence and intimidation of the southern African country's opposition ahead of the presidential runoff in which Mugabe was the only candidate. Scores of opposition activists, including high-ranking party members, have been attacked or killed.

Mugabe was made an honorary knight in 1994, when he was considered an anti-colonial hero.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's spokesman Michael Ellam said sanctions against Zimbabwe are under review, but said Britain wanted to guard against hurting the population.

"We are mindful of the humanitarian impact on Zimbabwe, but we would not want to see anything that would prop up the regime in any way," Ellam told reporters on Wednesday.

European Union leaders last week threatened Zimbabwe with more, unspecified sanctions. Brown said then that could include more targeted sanctions against members of Mugabe's regime.

European Union nations already have in place an arms embargo against Zimbabwe, in addition to a suspension of development aid and an assets freeze and travel ban against Mugabe and more than 100 other top government officials.

The England and Wales Cricket Board on Wednesday severed all bilateral ties with Zimbabwe's cricket authorities after Brown insisted Zimbabwe's team should be banned from entering the country. Earlier, Cricket South Africa imposed sporting sanctions on Zimbabwe.

In South Africa, there are increasing calls to try to force South African President Thabo Mbeki to take a tougher stand on Zimbabwe. Some ask whether a country seen as appeasing a dictator should be hosting the 2010 soccer World Cup. South Africa could face a public relations disaster similar to the criticism China has faced over Tibet as it prepares to host the Olympics.

Companies with Zimbabwe links are under pressure. After British media raised questions about its mining interests in the southern African country, Britain's Anglo American issued a statement Wednesday expressing "deep concern" about Zimbabwe and condemning violence there.

In a measure of the continuing tension, opposition leader Tsvangirai returned to the Dutch Embassy in Harare following a news conference Wednesday. Tsvangirai first fled to the embassy on Sunday following his announcement he was withdrawing from the runoff. He sought refuge after getting a tip that soldiers were headed to his home.

South Africa said Wednesday that 300 Zimbabwean opposition supporters were seeking refuge at its embassy in Zimbabwe.

At Wednesday's news conference, Tsvangirai, seen at left, called on African leaders to guide negotiations to end the crisis. The goal of the talks would be to form a coalition transitional authority in Zimbabwe.

He said discussions could not begin until there was an end to attacks on his supporters. Tsvangirai also wants a release of "political prisoners," including the MDC's No. 2 official Tendai Biti, who has been jailed since earlier this month on treason charges that can carry the death penalty.

Zimbabwean Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga reacted with derision: "Is he out of his mind?"

Matonga said the government and Mugabe's ZANU-PF were focused on the election. Tsvangirai was to be on the ballot, electoral officials said Wednesday, saying his withdrawal came too late to be valid.

"There will definitely be elections on Friday," Matonga said.

Tsvangirai said he was asking the African Union, whose heads of state hold a regular summit in Egypt next week, to take over mediation, which so far has been in the hands of South African President Thabo Mbeki and a southern African regional group.

Tsvangirai had previously called on Mbeki to step aside, accusing him of bias in Mugabe's favor and saying his "quiet diplomacy" was not working. Mbeki has refused to publicly denounce Mugabe - Friday, South African government spokesman Themba Maseko once again refused to refer to Zimbabwe as being in "crisis."

Regional heads of state, meanwhile, met in Swaziland in hopes of finding a solution for Zimbabwe. Their meeting ended with a call for the runoff to be postponed until conditions permitted a free and fair vote.

[keithle1]

Mugabe doesn''t give a fat rat''s toenail about "world condemnation." He loves that stuff. Feeds off of it.
Talks about how Zimbabwe is a "sovereign state" & will do what it wants while his idiot supporters cheer. Mugabe against the world. The black man will triumph!

All the while inflation heads towards 400,000 percent. Unemployment = 80%. Virtually no agriculture any more. People starving. Pro-Mugabe thugs running wild. Opposition running scared. Another case of black Africans doing it to their fellow black Africans.

But these are minor details. Time to polish Mugabe''s car & get his seven-course dinner ready!

[terrorislami]

typical and predictable,,, anytime you allow communist or fascist nazi terrorislam take over you will have a communist/terrorislam induced famine,,, it is happening in venezuela now,,, they also used to export food,,, now they too have to import food,,,

Zimbabwe suffers from an 80 percent unemployment rate and, according to the International Monetary Fund, an inflation rate exceeding 150,000 percent. Since 1994, the average life expectancy for women in Zimbabwe has fallen from 57 years to 34 years; among men it has dropped from 54 years to 37 years. Some 3,500 Zimbabweans die every week from the combined effects of HIV/AIDS, poverty, and malnutrition. Half a million Zimbabweans may have died since 2000, while some 3 million fled to South Africa alone.

A country that used to be called the %u201Cjewel%u201D and the %u201Cbreadbasket%u201D of Africa is now an Orwellian nightmare. With the economy in ruins and political freedom eviscerated, Zimbabwe%u2019s state-run media rail against a phantom international conspiracy consisting of Western powers and led by %u201Cliar%u201D George Bush, %u201Cgay%u201D Tony Blair, %u201Cuncle Tom%u201D Colin Powell, and %u201Ca slave to white masters%u201D Condoleezza Rice.
http://www.american.com/archive/2008/may-05-08/botswana-and-zimbabwe-a-tale-of-two-countries

[terrorislami]

World Condemnation Of Zimbabwe MUSLIM THUGS Grows
As Opposition Leader Calls For Peacekeepers, World Leaders Lament "Sham" Elections

Mugabe%u2019s Muslim Thugs Raid Christian Offices

Well, let%u2019s see; Zimbabwe%u2019s Muslim President, Robert Mugabe, has %u201Ccured AIDS,%u201D expelled ALL gayys, and now is cracking down on Christians%u2026 I smell genocide in the air%u2026

Zimbabwe Police Raid Christian Offices
Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Police raided Zimbabwe Christian Alliance offices on Monday and arrested five staff members for interrogation, the group reported.
Faced with the very real prospect of losing power, the 84-year-old Mugabe and his party the Zanu-PF party has resorted to violence, including an alleged plan to assassinate Tsvangirai and other key leaders of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change Party.
Under Mugabe, Zimbabwe which was once dubbed the breadbasket of southern Africa, has spiraled into an economic meltdown that includes an unemployment rate of about 80 percent and inflation at more than 100,000 percent.
http://doctorbulldog.wordpress.com/2008/06/11/mugabes-muslim-thugs-raid-christian-offices/

[terrorislami]

Posted by bluestardad at 10:04 AM : Jun 26, 2008

CONDEM FASCIST NAZI TERRORISLAM FOR PUTTING THIS TYRANT IN POWER!

[terrorislami]

Posted by Tonyd_31 at 10:49 AM : Jun 26, 2008

you and what army is going to arrest them nancy,,, LOL

hahaha

[terrorislami]

hmmmmmmm fascist nazi terrorislam backs mugabe/mug-me/bug-me,,, and fascist nazi terrorislam back husein,,,

COULD THIS BE A WARNING???

Islamic terrorists back Mugabe

Zanu-PF plots with a South African outlaw group to bring more terror to the country.

Four members of the military junta now ruling Zimbabwe in Mugabe''''''''s name are holding secret meetings with representatives of PAGAD, the notorious Islamic terrorist organisation based in Cape Town, South Africa.
http://www.zimbabwetoday.co.uk/2008/06/islamic-terrori.html

[tonyd_31]

I used to respect the President of S. Africa but it is obvious to me now, that he is not up to the job. I think the world community will be doing the right thing in not recognizing Mugabe if he continues with this run-off. I would like to see Mugabe and his cronies going to the Hague. They have no shame!!

[tonyd_31]

terrorislami, where are you nutty fruitcakes are hiding and why do you suddenly appear and spew off your ignorance? Well, what ever rock you crawled from under, do us a favor and hastely get back under it and please don''t come back. You people should read your postings and see how retarded you sound.

[faith_in_w]

Now you have widespread gang violence, and AIDS crisis completely out of control, poverty at historic levels, near constant "civil" unrest, etc.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by diatreme
=============================================
Ever visit a ghetto? They feel at home that way.

[bluestardad]

CONDEM BRITAIN AND AMERICA FOR PUTTING THIS TYRANT IN POWER!

[zerato-2009]

If the other countries of Africa do not care about the election, why should we?

[harpoot]

Bobby Mugobby is laughing his a$$ off at these "leaders". Wasted hot air.

[tootall10142]

I will take the short staw and the long flight if these gutless wonders wont kill the sob.we can stop this for 29 cents worth of gun powder.we can hunt down and kill ol saddam but all we do about this disgrace to humanity is put a few articles in the press.What the hell is the 6 million dollar sniper facility for ? games and and show games and show .

[tbweb]

There will definitely be elections on Friday.
Bright Matonga, Zimbabwean Deputy Information Minister

Not likely, but just by chance what happens if Morgan Tsvangirai wins? He dropped out so does he still win and take office? In the U.S. I don''t think he would be allowed to take office if he won but dropped out, so Robert Mugabe can''t lose even if he loses with no legal opposition!

[terrorislami]

Posted by MCVet at 07:36 AM : Jun 26, 2008

a vote for hussein is like a vote for the new black panther party,,,

a vote for hussein is like a vote for the the nation of terrorislam,,,

helll you may as well vote for anti jew racist david duke as vote for anti jew racist hussein,,,

a vote for hussein is a vote for fascist nazi terrorislam,,, as can be seen by the hamas and hezbollah endorsements,,,

sleep well america,,, sleep well,,,

[haoli25]

Maybe we should SHUN them and not return their phone calls. That''ll teach ''em.

[clyhrrs]

so when did the kkk become the public relations 4 cbs? from all of these "obama the antichrist" postings, that''s what it appears 2 b. if colin powell, or clarence thomas were running for office,im sure u guys would b cheering. there''s nothing that bigots like more than an black man who "knows his place".....

it''s sad , really...to read these posts and know that there is nothing on in these rants but a blatant fear of an educated independent black man holding office.

now i will say something that will really scare u.
vote 4 obama, because we can''t afford another war in the middle east. we''re already losing the two wars that bush got us into. and 9-11? bush was either asleep at the switch, or he was part of the plot.

it''s that simple... have a nice day , u guys...

[clyhrrs]

so when did the kkk become the major stockholders in aol? from all of these "obama the antichrist" postings, that''s what it appears 2 b. if colin powell, or clarence thomas were running for office,im sure u guys would b cheering. there''s nothing that bigots like more than an black man who "knows his place".....

it''s sad , really...to read these posts and know that there is nothing on in these rants but a blatant fear of an educated independent black man holding office.

now i will say something that will really scare u.
vote 4 obama, because we can''t afford another war in the middle east. we''re already losing the two wars that bush got us into. and 9-11? bush was either asleep at the switch, or he was part of the plot.

it''s that simple... have a nice day , u guys...

[emelder]

If only they had oil, or weapons of mass destruction, we could do something.

[mcvet]

If O''''bama is elected President here, the same thing will happen.

Posted by hunterdon6 at 07:13 AM : Jun 26, 2008

Where do you Klan People come from? I''m serious!! What kind of slime produces creatures like this!! Sieg Heil Grand Wizard!!