The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has met to deal with the situation in Zimbabwe and has made clear that the region's leaders want to see the results of the election that was held more than two weeks ago. Spokesmen nonetheless insist that there is no crisis in Zimbabwe, which, while absurd in light of the fact that Zimbabwe has been in crisis for a decade, more or less, probably reflects a desire to tamp down current tensions. Thabo Mbeki, who met with Mugabe this weekend, which is certain to fuel lots of speculation in South Africa, has seconded the “no crisis” line, which almost certainly means that this issue was broached behind closed doors and SADC members agreed to adhere to a party line.
In related news, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has announced that Africans, especially SADC, must resolve the Zimbabwe situation. This is probably smart diplomacy. Brown certainly is rooting for Mugabe to go, but he also knows that anything he says to that effect will only fuel Mugabe's wrath and will allow him to strike the anti-imperialist pose that is such a key tool in his kit.
Meanwhile in a twist that reveals that the Movement for Democratic Change remains committed to its chosen course of insisting that it won the election outright, and thus will not participate in a run-off, plans to mount a court challenge to the recount that the Zimbabwe Election Commission has ordered. The MDC believes that the recount merely will provide the pretext for Mugabe's people to fix the vote count, the original totals of which still have not been announced, which does raise some questions about the recount.
Finally, Foreign Policy, optimistic that Mugabe might be on his way out, has compiled a list of other dictators around the globe whose time might soon be up. Sudan's Omar Hassan al-Bashir also, rightly, makes the cut.
