Terror, fear, chaos, and violence had plagued the country of Zimbabwe after the elections in March. President Robert Mugabe of the Zanu-PF was defeated by opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change Party (MDC). However, Tsvangirai did not have enough to bypass the runoff election. The runoff election comes near the end of this month.
According to journalists, a Western diplomat has explained that Zimbabwe’s leadership is changing. The diplomat explains that Mugabe was in power because of the shadowy agency known as Joint Operations Command. The one that runs JOC is General Constantine Chiwenga, the head of the country’s military forces.
Like Mugabe, Chiwenga and his wife are subject to travel sanctions by the United States and countries across Europe.
Human Rights Watch said that the military is stealthily forming a coup to prevent Tsvangirai from taking power. The human rights group and diplomats have confirmed that JOC is taking control of the country. JOC is deemed to be a powerful group in Zimbabwe as it is made up of military generals, police generals, senior intelligence officials, prison officials, ruling leaders of the Zanu-PF, and so forth. It has been explained that Mugabe has remained in power because of assistance from the JOC.
Chiwenga has said that Tsvangirai will never take power. The takeover by JOC has been blamed for the increased level of violence.
Mugabe and his administration have blamed the MDC for most of the violence. However, the United Nations and many human rights groups blame the Zanu-PF for most of the violence. Mugabe and Chiwenga have accused Tsvangirai of being an imperialist puppet for Britain and the Western nations.
Recently, Mugabe has cracked down on all aid agencies in Zimbabwe.
Critics have said that the JOC has been responsible for the arrest of American and British embassy workers a few days ago. Witnesses have told the Human Rights Watch group that the JOC has been responsible for the fear and intimidation tactics to force people to vote for Mugabe in the run-off election.
Right before the eyes of the world, Zimbabwe is slowly turning into a junta. Politically, Zimbabwe is sharing the same fate as Burma. It is possibly that Tsvangirai could share the same fate as Nobel Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. The Burmese junta had recently extended Suu Kyi’s house arrest sentence.
Zimbabwe’s junta is just as brutal and uncaring as Burma’s junta.
South African President Thabo Mbeki, who is mediating Zimbabwe, has been criticized for his reaction the violence in country. Tsvangirai had recently written to Mbeki saying that he is no longer fit to mediate.
It was also confirmed that Mbeki had sent a letter to United States President George W. Bush, telling him to keep out of it.
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