The drama and chaos in Zimbabwe continues on. So far, it has expanded towards this year’s G8 Summit which was hosted by Japan and on the northern island of Hokkaido. South African President Thabo Mbeki was one of the seven leaders of Africa invited to join the G8 Summit. Mbeki is the key mediator in the Zimbabwe crisis. However, Mbeki has been criticized for his “beyond soft” approach towards the violence by the hands of “reelected” president Robert Mugabe and his Zanu-PF Party.
So far, supporters of Mugabe and their family members have been slapped with numerous sanctions. The daughter of General Constantine Chiwenga was kicked out of Germany. Chiwenga is heads Zimbabwe’s military and runs Joint Operations Command (JOC). Western diplomats say that JOC played an instrumental role in the violence against Mugabe’s opponents.
The G8 leaders say that unless Zimbabwe’s situation is death with, international business with Africa can be harmed. Since the elections in late March, there has been systematic violence directed at members and supporters of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Party. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai had won the election; but, did not win enough to avoid a runoff. Tsvangirai dropped out days before the June 27 runoff due to violence against the MDC.
Mbeki has been harshly criticized for failure as mediator. So far, the G8 plans to offer an ultimatum to the African Union (AU). The ultimatum is that if the AU does not rein in Mugabe, the G8 would place even tougher sanctions against Zimbabwe. So far, the G8 and AU see things differently on how to deal with Zimbabwe.
So far, Tsvangirai feels that Mbeki is no longer fit to be the mediator.
Also, they are still talking a possible power-sharing agreement for Zimbabwe. But, a power-sharing agreement is highly unlikely to happen in Zimbabwe.
A Canadian official reiterated that Mugabe’s government is not legitimate.
Mugabe said that before there are talks, Tsvangirai must give up and accept him as the president of Zimbabwe. Mugabe has said everybody has to recognize him as Zimbabwe’s President before talks can happen.
Before Tsvangirai dropped out, Mugabe repeatedly said that he would not cede power to him. Mugabe threatened to plunge Zimbabwe into a civil war if Tsvangirai won the runoff election. In a nutshell, Mugabe does not plan to allow Tsvangirai to take power.