Meeting of MDC and Zanu

Last weekend there was, according to South West Africa Radio, a meeting of Zanu-PF with the MDC. It seems that this was brokered by the President of South Africa, Tabo Mbeki. It took several attempts to get the meeting together.

One wonders whether the Prime Minister of the UK, Tony Blair, during his recent "farewell tour" had a hand in encouraging President Mbeki to take this initiative? It was pretty much in line with the remarks that he made in the media to that effect.

It is also to be hoped that in a small way the letters sent by many readers of this blog to the Foreign Secretary, Margaret Beckett, recommending the very course of action pursued by Tony Blair had some small influence on achieving this outcome. We will never know, but it is to be hoped so.

It is clear that the most effective pressure can come from local regional governments on the government of Zimbabwe. The reality of modern macro-economics is that all the economies in the region are interlocked with that of Zimbabwe. It has been estimated that a detrimental effect on the economy of South Africa has been experienced due to the decline in Zimbabwe by around 3% of Gross Domestic Product. It is therefore in the interest of the local economies that Zimbabwe returns to a path of sensible economic management.

It is also very much in the interest of all the local countries that Zimbabwe does not decline further into bloody and violent civil war as desperate people seek for desperate remedies.

Grimness and Intimidation

A fellow blogger - The Man from Catford - saw an article at the end of the last week in The Independent about the terrible situation inside Zimbabwe. He described the article as 'grim'.

Also on the TV on Thursday there was a documentary piece about the action of the CIO in Zimbabwe. It seems there are those Zimbabweans now living in South Africa who are terrified of the reach of the CIO, even in South Africa. The evidence for the actual action of the CIO outside Zim is mixed.

What is clear is that many are afraid. I have been informed that in Zimbabwe if one visits a supermarket then the CIO are around listening in to conversations. Zimbabweans need to be careful about what they say, except in the privacy of their own homes. I am reminded of the programme of denunciation within Nazi Germany, the Soviet Republic's Secret Police and the novel 1984.

Edinburgh University

Good on 'The Wise Men' (sic) of Edinburgh University. Yesterday they decided to review the honorary degree conferred on Rubert Mugabe in 1984 for services to education in Africa. I know from my friend in Zimbabwe that Robert Mugabe was originally a teacher, before entering politics.

One wonder why it is that other venerable agencies, such as the UK government and even the Crown do not reconsider the honoraria conferred on Mugabe, such as an honorary knighthood dating from around the same time? Such a move would do something to isolate Mugabe. It would make the point that dissatisfaction relates to this management of the country, and maybe isolate him within Zanu-PF. Certainly there is no quarrel with the nation of Zimbabwe.

Why does the UK government not consider similar steps?

Tony Blair Again

Yesterday I was travelling and listening to the radio. I heard that Tony Blair has reinforced the message, while meeting with President Mbeki of South Africa, that local regional governments are best placed to place pressure on the government of Zimbabwe. This appears to me to be the correct tactic in dealing the situation in Zimbabwe. Further and continual pressure needs to be placed on South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and other African governments to call for change in Zimbabwe, and the resignation of Robert Mugabe.