Headlines

POLITICS: African Union Silent on Zimbabwe

Anthony Stoppard

MAPUTO, Jul 12 2003 (IPS) - While the economic and political crisis in Zimbabwe is one of the conflicts that captured the attention of United States President George Bush during his trip to Africa, the African Union (AU) is officially silent on that country.

While the economic and political crisis in Zimbabwe is one of the conflicts that captured the attention of United States President George Bush during his trip to Africa, the African Union (AU) is officially silent on that country.

But while President Robert Mugabe’s presence in Maputo has been kept low-key, the rapidly unfolding endgame in his country is the subject of extensive behind the scenes talks at the gathering of heads of state and government, say officials.

Ahead of his tour to Africa, Bush tried to turn up the heat on African countries – and specifically South Africa – to get them to put increased public pressure on Mugabe to leave government. His secretary of state, Colin Powell, leveled criticism at South Africa for its’ softly-softly approach to Zimbabwe. For over two years now, South Africa has stuck steadfastly to its “quiet diplomacy” with Zimbabwe believing that negotiations between the ruling party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) are the only way out of the stalemate.

Mbeki, by all accounts, managed to persuade Bush that his way was correct. By the end of this week’s meeting between the two leaders, Bush had toned down his approach. “The President [Mbeki] is the person most involved; he represents a mighty country in the neighbourhood who, because of his position and his responsibility, is working the issue. And I’ve not any intention of second-guessing his tactics. We share the same outcome.” Mbeki is said to have promised Bush that there would be a settlement in Zimbabwe in the next 12 months.

But the American president also reserved the right to “speak out when we see a situation where somebody’s freedoms have been taken away from them and they’re suffering”.

On Thursday, during a stop-over in Botswana, he underlined his demand for “democracy” in Zimbabwe and blamed the effective collapse of the country’s economy on bad governance. There are also plans for a meeting, on the sides of the summit, between AU and European Union (EU) representatives to try and find a way around a political impasse between the two organizations over Zimbabwe.

The EU and US are insisting the government of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe illegally hung onto power in the county’s last parliamentary and presidential elections by intimidation and poll-rigging. Consequently, the EU has refused to meet representatives of the Mugabe government and imposed targeted sanctions on Zimbabwe’s rulers.

AU observers at the elections endorsed the results of the elections. As a result, the AU and the EU have not been able to hold a summit to discuss development assistance because the African leaders insist that the Europeans cannot be allowed to determine if Zimbabwe should be allowed to be part of the continent’s delegation. One of the AU principles is continental sovereignty. Despite extensive negotiations between the two organizations, for now the stalemate remains.

Two other common areas linked the Bush visit with the AU meeting: these were the unfolding war in Liberia and HIV/Aids. The US has pledged 15 billion dollars over five years to fight HIV/Aids globally, while the AU determined on Thursday that it alone would require three billion dollars a year to fight HIV/Aids, malaria and tuberculosis.

South African officials said in private talks with Bush that they had stressed that any funds for the country would be spent according to its own policies and needs – earlier reports said that the US planned to earmark its funds for treatment projects in South Africa. Mbeki has controversially questioned the effectiveness and safety of anti-retrovirals drugs, used to ease the effects of the disease and reduce the rate of infection of the virus. While health experts acknowledge the dangers of the drugs, they insist they are presently the most effective way to try and bring the disease under control.

An official from the Mbeki presidency said the US funds would probably be used to boost the infrastructure – clinics, staff, equipment – necessary to put in place a national Aids drug treatment programme. South African and US officials will meet soon to work out the framework for the HIV/Aids-related aid.

Officials also said South Africa supported a “positive” US response to ECOWAS requests for American soldiers to be deployed in the fractured West African nation. “Africa must take responsibility, through ECOWAS, on the ground in Liberia, but the truth of the matter is that it does not have the resources to do it alone,” said a South African official.

Bush was non-committal on deploying his troops. In Pretoria this week, he said: “We do have assessment teams [in Liberia] to assess what is necessary to help with the transition. He [Mbeki] asked whether or not we’d be involved and I said ‘yes’ we’ll be involved. And now we’re determining the extent of our involvement.”

Speaking at a press briefing at the AU summit on Thursday, Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo, confirmed that his country would be leading a multi-national military intervention force to Liberia. It would include troops from Ghana and Mali. He said that while the US had said it would contribute to the force, he had no idea of exactly what its commitment would be.

Asked why he had offered asylum to a leader facing war crime charges, Obasanjo pointed out that if Liberian leader Charles Taylor was not offered a way out of his country, he would either fight until his last drop of blood, or take his men back into the bush. In either case, thousands more Liberians were likely die. “What we are doing is more for the ordinary people of Liberia, than Charles Taylor himself.”