Enabling Mugabe's muggers

NY Times Editorial:

Robert Mugabe brazenly and brutally stole his latest re-election as president of Zimbabwe. Now Africa’s leaders, who have looked the other way for far too long, must decide what they will do.

They can continue to enable Mr. Mugabe out of political cynicism or misplaced solidarity with a former liberation leader turned tyrant. Or they can follow the wiser example of the living symbol of African liberation, Nelson Mandela, who last week condemned Zimbabwe’s “tragic failure of leadership.”

The signals from Monday’s opening session of the African Union summit, with Mr. Mugabe smugly in attendance, were not encouraging. While African election monitors rightly denounced the voting, few summit speakers went beyond muted and indirect criticism.

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President Bush has extended unilateral sanctions against Zimbabwean officials. The United States is pressing the United Nations Security Council to impose an arms embargo on Zimbabwe and sanctions on Mr. Mugabe’s cronies.

Unfortunately, Russia, China and South Africa seem determined to block such moves.

That is yet another reason Africa’s other leaders must take the lead. They must speak the truth about Mr. Mugabe and all the horrors he has visited on Zimbabwe, back their words with sanctions and call on the Security Council to do the same.

The UN continues to prove the impotence of the multilateral approach to genocide on the cheap. Like Sudan, some are putting their prejudices and other interest ahead of the suffering of the people of Zimbabwe. So far only Kenya's leader has spoken in favor of taking action against Zimbabwe.

The momentum may stall since the heightened awareness of the abuse may fade with the election. South Africa's current president is a disgrace to Africa and to any sense of humanity. His willingness to watch people suffering under the odious apparatus of Mugabe's thugocracy shows a tolerance for wickedness that is hard to believe.