Jerry Okungu
24 April 2008
opinion
Kampala — ON the surface, it would appear like the African Union (AU) and indeed the international community have this habit of playing double standards. One day they do one thing; the next morning they do the opposite.
When Kenyans brought the Kibaki government to its knees following an election dispute, the level of violence that was in progress shocked even the most immune leaders of the African atrocity.
Within hours of the political uprising in Kenya, the soaring casualty figures sent Desmond Tutu, Joachim Chissano, Benjamin Mkapa and two retired presidents from Liberia and Botswana trooping in to help stop the mayhem.
As world leaders were grappling with what Kenya had presented to them as their New Year gift, the UN and the AU took the cue, dispatching John Kufuor of Ghana, then AU chairman and UN secretary general Ki-moon to come and help sort out the political mess that had been created by the political class when they attempted to steal the elections.
Despite the flurry of activities by Africa's most eminent persons, it took the resilience of Dr. Kofi Annan, Dr. Graca Machel of Mozambique and President Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania to work out a peace and power sharing deal that lasted 28 days. On that day that the power sharing deal was signed, violence across the country came to a standstill.
Seven weeks since the Kenyan truce was signed, Zimbabwe has undergone almost an identical political ineptitude except that instead of Mugabe
outrightly declaring himself the winner Kenyan style, he chose to dither and tinker with the ballot papers in the hope that the opposition would relent and allow him to continue plundering Zimbabwe.
Now, a whole month later, Mugabe has decided out of generosity to recount the votes whose results, even the disputed ones have not been declared!
Yet, the whole world has sat by with folded arms leaving poor Zimbabweans to their own devices! Does it therefore mean that the international community and the AU can only intervene in cases of extreme violence that borders on ethnic cleansing or genocide?
Why wait for Zimbabwe to explode, spill blood and burn a few churches with children, the old and the disabled before they can stir from their slumber? What kind of cynicism and sadism are these?
Where are the eminent Africans who came to Kenya's rescue? Where are the SADDC leaders led by powerful South Africa, Tanzania, Mozambique and Namibia? Where are Jakaya Kikwete and the AU which he chairs as Mugabe takes the whole of Zimbabwe downhill? Where are the UN secretary general and his predecessor, Benjamin Mkapa, Graca Machel and Joachim Chissano? Zimbabweans are crying loud for you! When will you hear their cry?
Although Zimbabwe resembles Kenya in more ways than one regarding their last elections, there are fundamental differences that the world community must bear in mind. Whereas Kenya's president was a civilian with no strong influence in the military, Mugabe is a former guerrilla soldier whose comrades still lead the military.
Utterances by top military generals on the eve of the elections were ominous enough. They had sworn that they were not yet ready to mount a guard of honour for any other Head of State in Zimbabwe except for 'Comrade Bob'.
The world may want to remember that during the entire period of the Kenyan crisis, the military very much remained in their barracks and left the civilians to do their own thing with the police. They were only called in briefly to put out the riots that had overwhelmed the police in Naivasha and Nakuru areas.
The Zimbabwean military position brought out another dimension in that country that few people, not even the politicians in that country had paid attention to.
That when all is said and done, Zimbabwe has in fact been a military state all along. That all these years, Mugabe has been ruling with the explicit support of the men in uniform!
This development will pose a serious challenge to the AU and the international community should they choose to intervene. Doing so would most likely degenerate into a sort of Somalia and Burma situations.
If these former guerrillas decide to form militias to fight external intervention, we may just create another Iraq or Afghanistan in Africa let alone another Somalia. The question is; which superpower is ready to sacrifice soldiers and guns to be bogged down in another bush war in Zimbabwe?
Certainly not Britain because they had their share of that in the run-up to the Zimbabwean independence. Certainly not the United States because the mood in that country is anti- war expeditions anywhere.
So the Zimbabwean crisis is an African problem crying loud for an African solution. This is why we are asking Presidents Jakaya Kikwete and the financially endowed Thabo Mbeki regime to provide the badly needed leadership in the Zimbabwean crisis.
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