African bishops denounce Mugabe's intimidation

Durham, Jun. 26, 2008 (CWNews.com) - The Catholic bishops of Southern Africa have denounced the political violence in Zimbabwe and called upon international leaders to help bring peace and democratic rule to that country.

"Sad to say politically based violence, intimidation and torture have made a fair and free second round of presidential elections impossible," said Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durham, South Africa, speaking in his capacity as president of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference (SACBC). The bishops spoke out as Morgan Tsivangirai withdrew from the presidential race in Zimbabwe, citing the threats against his supporters.

A presidential run-off election that had pitted Tsivangirai against the incumbent, Robert Mugabe, has now "degenerated into a sham," the SACBC said. Opposition candidates have been harassed, intimidated, and denied access to the media; there supporters have been subjected to violence and intimidation, the bishops noted. The bishops said that the situation in Zimbabwe today is tantamount to a civil war-- but a war in which only one side, Mugabe's regime, is using violence against the other ...

The bishops urged international leaders not to recognize the legitimacy of the presidential election, which is now certain to produce a victory for Mugabe. Most international observers had agreed that Tsivangirai won a majority of the votes in the original election on March 29. But after a long delay, election officials announced on May 2 that Tsvangirai had won 47.9% of the vote, to 43.2% for Mugabe. Zimbabwe's law requires a runoff if no presidential candidate wins 50% of the votes.

http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=59324

They were originally from Greece, and he was a doctor. They didn't own any land, just their house, but they were forced to flee with only what they could carry when Mugabe turned everyone against all the whites. The dad would get tears in his eyes, he was so worried about his friends and patients. His kids were amazing kids, but they all had a haunted look in the backs of their eyes that said things had been worse than they told.

M'beki is being rightfully criticized for enabling Mugabe.

With recent criticisms by Nelson Mandela, M'beki is finding himself being more isolated.

weren't better off under colonialism.

A lot of the trouble in Africa has come the Europeans taking ethnic groups that had been enemies for centuries and putting them in the same "country" by drawing arbitrary lines on a map. Sometimes the Europeans favored one ethnic group over another, leading to a sense of entitlement on the part of that group and resentments on the part of the others.

The Europeans made some improvements in infrastructure (for their benefit) and set up some schools and medical facilities (not nearly enough), but they lorded it over the indigenous people, took their resources, and gave very little back.

Note that Ethiopia, the only African country that was never under the thumb of any foreign power, is no worse off than most of the rest of the countries.

but it doesn't excuse Mugabe.

There'd have been lots of little countries with a few larger countries. The larger ones would have taken over some smaller ones and formed little mini-empires.

Then without some kind of assimilation, the usual ethnocentric arrogance we've come to expect would produce a privileged group and a lesser privileged group.

Bantu-speakers had no trouble oppressing the Khoei and San pre-colonialism. The Ethiopans had their own little empire. It would be little different from Europe or Asia: Iran's the remains of an empire, as are Thailand and Burma, where one ethnic group rules and the rest simmer.

Note that Ethiopa, the only African country that was never under the thumb of any foreign power, is also no better off than most of the rest of the countries.

Some stick out. Usually there are two tribes that could claim dominance, or more. Not very stable, that, unless they both settle down and work out their problems. But tribalism, whether in Pakistan or Zimbabwe, is hard to kill off.