[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 13944-13945]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        WHO WILL SAVE ZIMBABWE?

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, we are about to see the 
world sit by silently, not silently perhaps, but ineffectively, and 
allow one of the most outrageous abuses of human rights that we have 
seen in a long time to go forward.
  The president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, is engaging in a pattern of 
oppression and tyranny and thuggery and despicable conduct towards his 
own people. He lost a preliminary election for the presidency despite 
every effort he could make to rig the election. Rather than allow the 
second round to go forward, he has ramped up the terror to the point 
where the man who got more votes than he in the first round 
understandably said he wouldn't participate in a run-off election which 
would not only be a fraud but which has already led to the murder and 
abuse of many innocent people.
  Robert Rotberg, a very distinguished scholar of Africa, wrote an 
article that was published in yesterday's Boston Globe. The headline 
is, ``Who will have the courage to save Zimbabwe?''
  He starts with a little history. He writes, ``After Idi Amin 
terrorized and

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killed his own Ugandans throughout the 1970s, President Julius Nyerere 
of neighboring Tanzania finally sent his army across the border to end 
the mayhem and restore stability. Who will now do the same for 
beleaguered Zimbabwe? Who will remove despotic Robert Mugabe from his 
besmirched and exposed presidency?''
  He is not calling for an army to go in, although there is certainly 
far stronger justification for an army to go there than a lot of places 
armies have been sent recently, but he has a program which he believes 
could be helpful. But as he points out, it has to be African nations 
that do this.
  This is a situation given the colonial history where the United 
States and Britain and France and others would not have the moral 
authority to act. But Africans should.
  Madam Speaker, I led a congressional delegation to Africa in April, 
and I was honored to be in the presence of the current president of 
South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, a man who was one of the leaders in 
overturning one of the worst oppressions we have seen, apartheid in 
South Africa. I was honored to be in his presence. I was delighted when 
he presented a very high honor from South Africa to our colleague, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters).
  But I have felt terrible disappointment at President Mbeki's 
passivity in the face of the terrible repudiation of democracy by 
President Mugabe. I wish that President Mbeki would have understood the 
right of the people of Zimbabwe to receive the same kind of sympathy 
and help that many of us tried to extend to the people of South Africa 
when they were victimized.
  I will include for the Record the article by Mr. Rotberg making an 
argument for an African initiative to protect the people of Zimbabwe 
from the tyrant, the degenerating tyrant who so viciously oppresses 
them.
  Mr. Rotberg closes with this: ``Zimbabwe is in shambles. The United 
States and Britain would doubtless like to act unilaterally, but dare 
not. Only Africans and the U.N. have unquestioned moral authority.'' 
And he notes here that the former Secretary General Kofi Annan did a 
great job when Kenya had troubles and helped to pacify and restore 
democracy and stability to Kenya. So he says, ``Only Africa and the 
United Nations have unquestioned moral authority. Which African leaders 
will now emulate Nyerere's profile of courage in Zimbabwe's dire time 
of need?''
  As one who has strongly supported the rights of the people of Africa 
to be free from colonialism, one who has strongly supported the need to 
provide the appropriate economic support so we can seriously diminish 
poverty, as a great admirer of President Mbeki and his colleagues, I 
implore them to save the good name of African democracy. And I 
understand the difficulty, and they certainly aren't the ones 
perpetrating this. But if the world, if Africa allows Mugabe to 
continue this terrible reign of terror, it will be a source of shame to 
us all.

              Who Will Have the Courage to Save Zimbabwe?

                         (By Robert I. Rotberg)

       After Idi Amin terrorized and killed his own Ugandans 
     throughout the 1970s, President Julius Nyerere of neighboring 
     Tanzania finally sent his army across the border to end the 
     mayhem and restore stability. Who will now do the same for 
     beleaguered Zimbabwe? Who will remove despotic Robert Mugabe 
     from his besmirched and exposed presidency?
       Presidential contender Morgan Tsvangirai's courageous 
     decision to boycott Zimbabwe's runoff election on Friday--
     after Mugabe's thugs broke up yet another opposition rally by 
     swinging iron bars and sticks at potential Tsvangirai 
     voters--compels the African Union, the UN Security Council, 
     and major powers finally to act. Tsvangirai said that he and 
     his supporters were facing war, not an election, and they 
     would ``not be part of that war.'' Serious UN sanctions are a 
     first step.
       Second, since South Africa shows no appetite for an 
     intervention and Tanzania, Botswana, Mozambique, and Zambia--
     Zimbabwe's neighbors--are unlikely to act militarily without 
     South African agreement an African stained Zimbabwe's tyranny 
     should: demand that Friday's poll be postponed until Africans 
     can patrol the country and oversee a free and fair real 
     election; demand compulsory mediation by former UN secretary 
     general Kofi Annan, who pacified Kenya earlier this year; 
     denounce despotism in Zimbabwe; and ban all Zimbabwean 
     aircraft from flying over neighboring airspaces, thus 
     effectively keeping Mugabe and his henchmen bottled up inside 
     their decaying country. Neighboring countries could also 
     squeeze land-locked Zimbabwe's electricity supplies and slow 
     rail traffic.
       Time is short. Mugabe is clearly still intent on ratifying 
     his usurpation of power on Friday. Tsvangirai officially led 
     Mugabe in the initial presidential poll in March. In recent 
     weeks Mugabe's military have unleashed a relentless wave of 
     intimidation against Tsvangirai's Movement for a Democratic 
     Change and its supporters, killing 86, maiming at least 
     10,000, and assaulting thousands more. Tsvangirai was 
     detained seven times before Sunday and his key deputy was 
     imprisoned last week without trial on a bogus treason charge. 
     Yesterday, the house of another key deputy was trashed and 
     his elderly relatives assaulted.
       Unless Africa and the UN act courageously, Mugabe will get 
     away with his brazen attempt to cling brutally to power and 
     impoverish his own people despite broad global contempt.
       Mugabe has also refused to summon Parliament, which is 
     dominated by the Movement for Democratic Change and was 
     elected overwhelmingly in March. As a result, many of 
     Mugabe's cabinet ministers and loyalist remain in office, 
     drawing salaries, despite having lost their seats. Several 
     times, Mugabe and close associates have publicly declared 
     that the Movement and Tsvangirai would never be allowed to 
     take office or govern. ``Only God will remove me,'' Mugabe 
     defiantly declared Monday.
       Conditions in Zimbabwe, where more than 80 percent of 
     adults are unemployed and nearly everyone is hungry; where 
     there are startling shortages of staple corn, wheat and 
     bread, sugar, oil, milk, and gasoline; and where brutality is 
     always around the next corner are even more horrific today 
     than they were in Uganda in 1979, when Nyerere invaded. 
     Famously, Mugabe told a BBC interviewer in 1999 that he was 
     ``no Idi Amin.''
       Mugabe's men have also continued to use food as a political 
     weapon, first stopping the supply of grain by international 
     relief agencies and last week physically stealing relief 
     shipments to give to their own supporters. Mugabe's thugs 
     have also harassed British and American diplomats at 
     roadblocks, in one case threatening to burn them alive in 
     their cars.
       Zimbabwe's inflation now exceeds 160,000 percent a year. 
     One U.S. dollar buys 4 million Zimbabwe dollars at the 
     unofficial street rate. Mugabe and his close associates 
     exploit differences between official and unofficial exchange 
     rates to prosper while ordinary Zimbabweans go hungry or are 
     attacked.
       Zimbabwe is in shambles. The United States and Britain 
     would doubtless like to act unilaterally, but dare not. Only 
     Africans and the UN have unquestioned moral authority. Which 
     African leaders will now emulate Nyerere's profile of courage 
     in Zimbabwe's dire time of need?

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