Is President Mugabe beginning to feel the increasing pressure from the outside? There is some indication that Mugabe's overheated rhetoric of late comes at least in part because of increased scrutiny of his country from regional leaders. Thus his threat to go to war if he loses the run-off and his warnings that people will be too scared to vote seem less like typical Mugabe bombast and more like the desperation of a man who sees his power, and thus potentially his freedom, slipping away.
Meanwhile challenger Morgan Tsvangirai is at turns confident but also wary. He believes that despite Mugabe's threats and the violence underway that is intended to cow the opposition the turnout on June 27 will be immense and he is confident that he will win. Nonetheless as he looks around his country he sees a nation and a people under siege. The news that the United Nations anticipates a severe food shortage in Zimbabwe, which is hardly flourishing as it is, cannot help matters any.
From the outside world leaders continue to condemn Mugabe's regime. Leaders in Africa continue to deal with their Zimbabwe dilemma while more and more of them speak out against ZANU-PF. Even Thabo Mbeki has been roused to action, if only to question whether holding the runoff is a good idea and to encourage Mugabe, with whom Mbeki met last night, to engage in negotiations with Tsvangirai. Mbeki's proposal seems a bit pie in the sky, and more than a little bit too late, but nonetheless reveals that the world is becoming engaged as the clock ticks down toward the scheduled runoff election.
