Redstate

By Pejman Yousefzadeh Posted in Begone I Say And Let Us Have Done With You | Foreign Affairs | Robert Mugabe | Zimbabwe — Comments (6) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

I suppose that this should come as no surprise whatsoever. But it is still appalling:

Zimbabwe's government staged separate police raids on Thursday against the main opposition party, foreign journalists and at least one democracy advocate, raising the specter of a broad crackdown aimed at keeping the country's imperiled leaders in power.

With the government facing election results that threaten its 28-year reign, security officers raided the Miekles Hotel in central Harare on Thursday afternoon, searching rooms that the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, had rented for election operations, said Tendai Biti, the party's general secretary.

About the same time, a second group of riot officers sealed off the York Lodge, a small hotel in suburban Harare that is frequented by foreign journalists. A lodge worker who refused to be identified for safety reasons said six people were detained, including Barry Bearak, a correspondent for The New York Times who was later located in a Harare jail. The identities of the others were not clear.

Leaders of the Movement for Democratic Change said the raids heralded a campaign of political repression to safeguard President Robert Mugabe, one of Africa's longest-serving leaders. His party, known as ZANU-PF, has already lost control of the lower house of Parliament, according to official results from Saturday's elections, a huge turnabout in a nation where Mr. Mugabe has long controlled virtually all levers of power.

But the government had still not released the outcome of the presidential race, prompting international criticism of the delay and concern that attempts were under way to manipulate the election results. The government has said the vote count has been slow because the election was the first simultaneous one for all national offices.

ZANU-PF is now saying that it wants to have a run-off election and it is paving the way for a favorable result with thuggish tactics designed to harass and intimidate political opponents. For this alone, Mugabe's government ought to fall. With the octogenarian tyrant on the ropes, the worst thing that the international community could possibly do is to assume that the campaign to oust the Mugabe regime is over and won. Clearly, it is not and clearly, Robert Mugabe will do anything he possibly can in order to remain in power.

Those who want the best for Zimbabwe should be quite worried at this state of affairs. And they should be doubly determined to see that tyranny will not prevail over the clearly expressed will of the people to see Mugabe gone. His party has been ousted from its governing position in parliament. Mugabe himself should follow his party to ignominy and hopefully, eventual prosecution for the crimes he perpetrated during his time in power.