Maravi

Give SADC initiatives on Zimbabwe a chance

Give SADC initiatives on Zimbabwe a chance
By Editor
Saturday March 31, 2007 [02:00]

The initiatives of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) on the Zimbabwean crisis deserve the support of all. It is clear to all, including the current political Zimbabwean leadership, that the country needs help to get out of its current crisis. It is now clear to the Zimbabwean leadership that they cannot get out of their current problems without the help of the SADC countries and without the goodwill of the international community.

What has come out of Dar-es-Salaam this week is a clear demonstration of the fact that no single person, politician or statesman, country, block or union of countries has the monopoly of wisdom. The various attempts to resolve the Zimbabwean crisis have taught us that the world today cannot rely only on one thinker but needs many thinkers.

President Thabo Mbeki and other African leaders’ approach to the Zimbabwean crisis has not been received well in America and Europe. These have argued for a more confrontational, more punitive and ruthless approach against President Mbeki’s more-friendly and quiet engagement. The European Union and the American government have imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe against the advice of the SADC countries. But what is the main aim of these sanctions?

They appear to have had only one aim: to weaken and remove the government of President Robert Mugabe. But when critically analysed, it is not difficult to discern the fact that these measures seek to pressure and impose a government on the people of Zimbabwe.

Although the many problems Zimbabweans are facing today cannot all be blamed on these sanctions, it cannot be denied that these sanctions have been a war without guns and bloodshed on this country. But also, it cannot be denied that although these sanctions have succeeded in strangulating the Zimbabwean economy, they have had limited, if any, effectiveness for changing behaviour or government in Zimbabwe.

The only people these sanctions have succeeded in killing or injuring are infants, children, the elderly and the chronically ill. These sanctions have imposed hardship on ordinary Zimbabweans far more than on the political leadership of that country.

These sanctions have actually proved to be a blunt instrument in far as achieving their primary aim of regime change is concerned. Actually, these sanctions raise serious ethical questions of whether the suffering inflicted on vulnerable groups in Zimbabwe is a legitimate means of exerting pressure on the political leadership of that country whose behaviour, it would appear, has not been affected by the plight of the ordinary people.

The call by the SADC leaders for the removal of sanctions against Zimbabwe deserves support because decisions must take better account of the sanctions’ impact on ordinary people and must seek to avoid the suffering of the innocent.

And now that the SADC political leadership says it has started taking action to correct the situation in Zimbabwe, their work should be made easier by the removal of sanctions which may lead to the easing of internal and external tensions in and around Zimbabwe.

The Europeans and Americans should learn to support the initiatives of others because it is not only them who have the best solutions to every global problem. The situation in Iraq clearly shows us that the Americans and the British and other European politicians don’t have the monopoly of wisdom, they don’t always come up with the best solutions to problems.

It is important to discuss the Zimbabwean problem in an honest and frank manner because it is only through this that good solutions will emerge. We are told this was the spirit that characterised the discussions of the Zimbabwean crisis in Dar-es-Salaam. The SADC leaders, as Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete has said, deserve encouragement and support in their initiatives to bring peace and stability to Zimbabwe. The politicians in Zimbabwe - both in government and in the opposition - need to be encouraged to take a more sober and accommodating approach in their politics.

The confrontation of all these years has left them and their people as losers - none of them has achieved anything positive from this confrontation. There is no need to carry on with this type of confrontation that has weakened and divided the people of that great and heroic country, leaving them virtually incapable of uniting to solve and tackle the many problems and challenges facing their country and its people.

As President Kikwete correctly observes, the political atmosphere in Zimbabwe is confrontational and this cannot be good for the establishment of any meaningful democratic dispensation. There is therefore need for all political forces in Zimbabwe to cooperate and give this SADC initiative a chance, which we believe if supported by all, will deliver what Zimbabwe needs to move out of its crisis.

There is need for all in Zimbabwe to exercise restraint and avoid the violence and intolerance that characterised the month of March. As has been observed, such actions will not help matters, if anything they will just help to inflame the situation. What Zimbabwe needs now is a friendly atmosphere that is going to be conducive for the holding of meaningful political discourse.

And violent actions and excessive political intolerance do not help to repair Zimbabwe’s hostile diplomatic relations. Zimbabwe needs healthy international relations to help it come out of its problems.

No one can now pretend that things are as they should be in Zimbabwe. This is a troubled country; it is a country that is very ill and needs some physicians. Denial will not help matters. In fact, the country has long passed the phase where the problems could be denied because the symptoms are now too clear for all to see - the economy is in shambles and all the economic indicators point to this fact; social services are not what they used to be and the political turmoil can no loner be concealed.

What Zimbabwe urgently needs is a reversal of fortunes in all areas of human endeavour. But this calls for serious efforts and sacrifices on the part of the Zimbabwean people and their leaders. Consensus and accommodation has to be reached first among the Zimbabwean people and their leaders themselves; and second with the international community, especially those in the SADC grouping.

From Dar-es-Salaam, we are seeing some new realisations and realism. We can only hope that this will be positively followed through and will end in meaningful initiatives that will help solve the problems of that country.

Labels: EDITORIAL, SADC, ZIMBABWE

posted by MrK @ 6:23 AM