[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Pages 14078-14079]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           CRISIS IN ZIMBABWE

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I have repeatedly come to the floor to 
talk about the genocide in Darfur, a tragedy that is now entering its 
sixth year, with little end in sight. Senator Snowe and 27 other 
Senators joined me last month in writing to the President saying that 
his legacy would be largely affected by whether definitive action is 
taken to halt this humanitarian crisis on his watch.
  Unfortunately, I fear President Bush will leave office and hand the 
crisis in Darfur to the next President.
  Sadly, there is another African crisis that also demands the world's 
attention--this one in Zimbabwe.
  On March 29, the country held a presidential election in which 
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai won over incumbent Robert Mugabe by 
nearly 5 percent. Official results were withheld by the government for 
more than a month, raising concerns of official manipulation. 
Opposition leaders and supporters, election observers, and reporters 
were harassed and in some cases detained. Some were tortured, others 
killed.
  Under those results, in which neither candidate received more than 50 
percent, a runoff was scheduled for June 27.
  The period leading up to this runoff has been a tragedy for the 
people of Zimbabwe, for democracy, for the rule of law, and for the 
entire southern African region.
  President Mugabe, once a hero of Zimbabwe's independence, has used 
violence to destroy his country's democratic process.
  Opposition supporters are harassed, attacked, and threatened if they 
do not vote for Mugabe. Tsvangirai has been detained repeatedly and has 
survived three assassination attempts. His party's secretary general, 
Tendai Biti, was arrested earlier this month and charged with treason.
  And then this week, government thugs raided opposition party 
headquarters, rounding up supporters, including women and children.
  Mugabe even said in regards to the next round of voting, ``We are not 
going to give up our country because of a mere X. How can a ballpoint 
pen fight with a gun?''
  Mugabe has driven Zimbabwe's economy into the ground, starved his own 
people, and brought sweeping international condemnation upon his 
government. He has further added to his people's suffering by 
manipulating the distribution of international food aid.
  The process has been so undermined by President Mugabe that on 
Monday, Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew from the race and sought refuge in 
the Dutch embassy.
  The man who won the most votes in the first round of Zimbabwe's 
election now has to seek the protection of a foreign embassy out of 
fear the government will take his life.
  This is outrageous.
  The situation in Zimbabwe is a tragedy that the international 
community must address. The world cannot stand idly by anymore while 
petty dictators destroy the lives and ignore the democratic will of 
their own populations.
  What message are we sending when murderous governments such as those 
in Burma, Sudan, and Zimbabwe are allowed to thumb their noses at basic 
human rights and the international community?
  The UN Security Council said this week that it would be ``impossible 
for a free and fair election to take place.''

[[Page 14079]]

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also strongly condemned the situation 
in Zimbabwe, saying that an election under current conditions ``would 
lack all legitimacy.''
  And recently 14 former African presidents, two former UN Secretaries-
General and 24 other prominent African leaders signed a joint letter to 
Mugabe, calling for an end to the pre-election violence and for a free 
and fair election.
  But where pressure has not been strong enough is from the democracies 
neighboring Zimbabwe. Recently Senators Feingold, Kerry, and Whitehouse 
joined me to meet with the ambassadors from the southern African 
nations of Botswana, Zambia, and South Africa to discuss the need for 
greater attention to the crisis in Zimbabwe.
  While I am pleased that Botswanan and Zambian leaders have spoken 
more forcefully on Zimbabwe in recent days, these nations must do much 
more to help the people of Zimbabwe. Many African leaders have argued 
over the years that they must take greater responsibility for political 
and human rights reform on their own continent. I suggest Zimbabwe is 
an urgent opportunity for just such action.
  South Africa in particular, a nation that the world stood behind to 
end the tragic injustice of apartheid, has been noticeably quiet in its 
responsibility to halt Mugabe's rein of destruction. President Mbeki 
has tried quiet diplomacy, but it is clear that Mugabe does not respect 
these efforts.
  The South African ruling party said this week that ``any attempts by 
outside players to impose regime change will merely deepen the 
crisis.'' That argument misses the point.
  It is the people of Zimbabwe that are demanding change.
  The right to associate freely, to vote without intimidation or 
violence, to peacefully choose one's leader--these are all basic 
democratic values shared around the world. They are the values that 
brought a peaceful end to apartheid.
  In fact, election protocols agreed to by the members of the Southern 
African Development Community demand certain benchmarks for elections 
to be considered legitimate--benchmarks which are certainly not being 
met in Zimbabwe.
  South Africa, more than any other nation in Africa, has the ability 
and the moral responsibility to rein in Mugabe. The rest of the global 
community stands ready to help South Africa with this urgent need.
  The world must step up against the injustices in Zimbabwe. The Mugabe 
regime must not conduct a runoff election until conditions allow for a 
free and fair process, including an end to political violence and 
intimidation, the release of political detainees, free access of 
election observers, the freedom to associate and hold political 
rallies, and a transparent and honest vote counting process.
  Without such minimal steps, the world must not recognize the results 
of a rigged process in which Mugabe will simply proclaim himself 
president for another term.

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