Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Mugabe's big guns trained on elections

A few weeks back, I posted a few thoughts on the African Union with focus on Comoros and the Zimbabwean election. You can revisit the article here. I had suggested that the African Union had shot itself in the foot by sending troops to remove the speck in Comoros while conveniently ignoring the elephant in Zimbabwe.

Some two months later, Mugabe is still in power in Zim, and the AU can't dare lift a finger at the Bim.

I must say kudos to the patriotic South Africans who refused to offload weapons Mugabe had imported from China. Ironically, at that time, while the South Africans argued that the weapons would be used to torment their brothers in Zimbabwe, the same South Africans are now finishing off the job that the Bim failed to complete.

More bad news: The weapons shipment has found its way to Zim through a port in Congo (sorry, can't find an English translation). The timing is perfect, at least for the Bim. His country will be running a repeat presidential election on June 27.

Initially, he had said the country was too broke to afford a rerun between him and Morgan Tsvangirai. Now that the weapons have arrived (apparently, cash was readily available to take the shipment through the circuitous route), the Bim can confidently campaign again, for the big guns are literally trained on the election.

SA President Thabo Mbeki visits him often, SADC pats his back, and the AU remains poignantly silent. What more can a Bim ask for?

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