Thursday, April 17, 2008
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa —
Protests are fizzling at home, and his efforts to rally the world to the cause of democracy in Zimbabwe are being stymied by fellow Africans.Morgan Tsvangirai _ who has been beaten, accused of treason and nearly killed since founding Zimbabwe's main opposition movement in 1999 _ wouldn't hazard a guess as to when the crisis over an election he says he won will be resolved.
If he knew who could persuade Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to step down, he said in an interview with The Associated Press, "certainly that person should be contacted immediately."
Tsvangirai was relaxed, even able to joke about reports from his homeland Thursday that Mugabe's regime considers him a traitor. But he is a man under considerable pressure.
Nearly three weeks have passed since the presidential vote. No official results have been released, and the opposition, which says Tsvangirai won, accuses Mugabe of withholding the results to stay in power after a campaign that focused on Zimbabwe's shell-shocked economy.
There has been talk of a recount or a runoff. But Mugabe could well simply continue to suppress the results and cling to power.
Human rights groups report increasing violence against Tsvangirai's supporters. Zimbabwe Doctors for Human Rights said Tuesday its members had treated more than 150 cases of injuries consistent with assault and torture since the March 29 poll, including a rash of recent ones linked to a crackdown sparked by the opposition's call for a stay-away from work protest.
The stay-away call was little heeded, both because few Zimbabweans can afford to miss even a day of work, and because police and militants loyal to Mugabe cracked down.
Tsvangirai said the stay-away "may have been an exhausted strategy." But he wasn't home to help his aides plot tactics. He has been traveling outside Zimbabwe for most of the period since the election, and acknowledged his homeland was a dangerous place for him.
"There are rogue elements there who might take the law into their own hands," he said.
The former trade union leader said diplomacy, not fear, was the main reason he was abroad. He would not say when he would return, saying his priority now is mobilizing international pressure on Mugabe.
Tsvangirai's comments came the same day Zimbabwean state media reported allegations the opposition leader was plotting an "illegal regime change" with former colonial ruler Britain. Mugabe also claimed Britain was seeking to re-colonize and pledged, "that shall never be."
The media cited a letter from Britain's prime minister, which the opposition says is a forgery. The British Embassy in Harare also denied it.
The opposition leader dismissed the treason charges and said accusations that he was plotting to overthrow the Mugabe regime were "outrageous."
"We are determined to have democratic change through democratic means," not through violence, Tsvangirai said. "The people themselves are the ones that will change the government."
In Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters Thursday that Mugabe's recent rule has been an "abomination" and urged Zimbabwe to release election results.
"It's time for Africa to step up" and denounce the government campaign of arrests and intimidation that followed the vote, she said. "Where is the concern from the African Union and from Zimbabwe's neighbors about what is going on in Zimbabwe?"
But African leaders rarely criticize one of their own. And Mugabe, for his part, regards the U.S. as the enemy and is unlikely to be influenced by such denunciations.
On Thursday, South Africa issued its strongest call yet for Zimbabwe's government to release the election results. "When elections are held and results are not released two weeks after, it is obviously of great concern. The situation is dire," government spokesman Themba Maseko said.
South African President Thabo Mbeki, who was appointed last year by a regional grouping to mediate between Tsvangirai and Mugabe, has insisted on quiet diplomacy, maintaining that Mugabe will not respond to a confrontational approach. Mbeki has been widely criticized for saying last weekend that Zimbabwe was not in crisis.
At a news conference Thursday, Tsvangirai called Mbeki's comments disappointing. He thanked the South African leader for his mediation efforts so far, but said it was time for him to step aside as an intermediary.
Tsvangirai called for Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, who has been critical of Mugabe, to take over mediation. However, Zambia's information minister, George Mulongoti, said that because Mbeki's appointment came from a regional group, "any decision to change that would have to be done collectively." Mbeki's spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
At a weekend summit, Mwanawasa, Mbeki and other regional leaders issued a weak declaration that failed to criticize Mugabe.
South Africa, which holds the U.N. Security Council presidency this month, kept Zimbabwe off the agenda of a U.N. meeting it organized to address African crises. The U.N. secretary-general and the leaders of Britain and the African Union did, however, urge Zimbabwe at the meeting Wednesday to ensure the outcome of the presidential election reflects the will of the people and is not rigged.
In his struggle for democracy, Tsvangirai has survived three assassination attempts, including one in 1997 by unidentified assailants who tried to throw him from a 10th-floor window of the Zimbabwean trade union congress's headquarters.
In 2003, after an 18-month trial, Tsvangirai was acquitted of treason in a case stemming from an alleged plot to assassinate Mugabe.
Treason carries the death penalty in Zimbabwe, so the renewed treason allegations against Tsvangirai in the state-controlled media Thursday were ominous.
"Tsvangirai, along with (British Prime Minister Gordon Brown), are seeking an illegal regime change in Zimbabwe, and on the part of Tsvangirai, this is treasonous," The Herald quoted Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa as saying.
Rice told reporters Thursday the U.S. is concerned about the treason accusations. Tsvangirai played them down, joking he may earn a place in record books for facing the most treason trials.
He was sober on the subject of Mugabe.
Tsvangirai has said in the past he is not interested in a "witch hunt" if he were to oust Mugabe because that would distract attention from Zimbabwe's economic and political crises.
"There was a point where everyone would have respected that Mugabe must exit honorably. But the more he is digging in, the more he's abusing people. I think that opportunity is being lost," Tsvangirai said. "I still think we should forgive and forget. But given the current wave of violence against the people, how do you sell that to the people?"
That stance could make it even more difficult to dislodge Mugabe _ who, according to some critics, is holding onto power because he fears he will be dragged to court to face human rights abuse charges if he steps down.
In addition to the recent violence, Mugabe's troops were accused of massacres in the western Matabeleland province during an armed rebellion after independence in 1980. His brutal countrywide slum clearance operation in 2005 also has been decried as a violation of human rights.
"Those who are responsible ... for gross human rights abuses" should face justice, Tsvangirai said, arguing that Mugabe would be at the head of this group.
Mugabe "is the ultimate authority. The buck stops with him."
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