'Mugabe has declared war and we will not be part of that war'

These pictures are a small example of the levels of violence that Mugabe has inflicted upon his own people for daring to vote against him.

They are the reason behind Morgan Tsvangirai's decision to pull out of the Zimbabwean elections.

The Movement for Democratic Change leadership met and decided to withdraw from what it called a "violent, illegitimate sham of an election" amid the murders by the ruling Zanu-PF militia and security forces of 100 opposition activists, the torture and rape of thousands of MDC supporters, and a state-orchestrated campaign of terror across swathes of the country.

"Mugabe has declared war, and we will not be part of that war," the opposition leader said.

How can people freely express their democratic opinion when the price for dissent is so unbearably high? How can any election, conducted under such circumstances, be said to be representative of what the people want?

I had actually wanted the elections to go ahead, but I admitted at the time that this was a selfish wish. I was asking for this whilst paying no personal price for this particular piece of wish fulfilment. Morgan Tsvangirai, however, has decided that the price is simply too high to pay, especially as Mugabe has promised to ignore the result if it does not favour him.

And so the MDC has walked away.

This causes Mugabe an awful lot of problems. He didn't win the previous election, although he will now claim that he is the default winner of this one. The question now is what the international community choose to do to underline his illegitimacy.

The British, American and French governments immediately denounced the Mugabe regime for the collapse of the elections, and the crisis will move to the UN security council today as the international community considers new sanctions against the Zanu-PF leadership.

"If Mugabe thinks this finishes it, he's in for a big surprise. He has united the world against him," Mark Malloch Brown, the foreign office minister for Africa, Asia and the UN, told the Guardian.

The White House added: "The government of Zimbabwe and its thugs must stop the violence now."

Mugabe is, of course, claiming that Tsvangirai's decision leaves him as the last man standing and, therefore, the legitimate person to claim the presidency. But we all know what he did to get there.



We have all seen the footage coming out if Zimbabwe and we have all seen the pictures of the brutality he has inflicted upon his people.

Tsvangirai was in favour of pushing on, as was his national election director, Ian Makone; but both were swayed after a meeting with party officials on the ground who told them that they could no longer in good conscience ask people to vote when it would put them in danger.

"Listening to the grass roots was the tipping point: that here we've got the bullet versus the ballot. The biggest problem was going to be deploying polling agents. Persuading youngsters to lay down their lives was not an easy thing to do," he said.

Tsvangirai listed reasons "why a free and fair election is impossible". Police were "reduced to bystanders while Zanu-PF militia commit crimes against humanity varying from rape, torture, murder, arson, abductions and other atrocities".

The MDC leader also accused the ruling party of "spearheading a terror campaign in rural and urban areas", and Mugabe's security cabinet and state intelligence of overseeing it. He said that "death and hit squads are on the loose in all provinces".

The MDC leader said his party structures have been "decimated" with the arrest of one of its top figures on treason charges, Tendai Biti, the secretary general, and detention of hundreds of other officials. "Over 2,000 MDC supporters including our polling agents are in illegal detention. The arrests have targeted members of parliament, councillors, the MDC structures and election agents. Over 200,000 people have been internally displaced. The whole game is designed to cripple the MDC campaign," he said.

Tsvangirai also accused the government of crippling his campaign by banning rallies and repeatedly arresting him, and the state media of conduction an unprecedented campaign of "hate and vilification" against him.

Last night Mbeki, the leader of South Africa, once again called for "dialogue". He was one of the few people who, had he spoken out, could have made a genuine difference. He chose not to do so out of weakness. Last night, by even now continuing to believe that Mugabe can be reasoned with, he went beyond simply weakness and became an active enabler.

His silence, and it's consequent acquiescence in Mugabe's crimes, is a stain on all of Africa.

The Independent describe what has taken place as "state-sponsored terrorism" and it is very hard to argue with that description. He has, after all, employed the power of the state against his own people.

Whatever wafer thin legitimacy Mugabe ever had to rule Zimbabwe with has gone. Short of using military force to remove him we are left with only further sanctions, and Britain has already suggested that we go as far as to cut off all electricity to the country in the hope of toppling him.

However, to achieve this we would, again, need Mbeki to see sense.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office [...] is hoping to persuade Zimbabwe’s neighbours to create an economic blockade. Vital imports have to come through Mozambique and South Africa. “One way or another, this summer is likely to mark the endgame for Robert Mugabe,” one diplomat said.

There will be many, exactly as we witnessed at the time of Apartheid South Africa, who will argue that sanctions simply punish the ordinary Zimbabwean people further. But in Zimbabwe there are very few citizens who enjoy the luxury of electricity. And it would be an important symbol of Mugabe's impotence if he was unable to even keep the lights on in his own palace.

At a time when the South Africans are already experiencing electricity troubles of their own, selling this commodity to friendly neighbours like Botswana and Mozambique is already proving controversial amongst Mbeki's populace. This might be the perfect time to lean on Mbeki and suggest that he plunge Mugabe into darkness.

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Tags: Zimbabwe, Mugabe, Tsvangirai, MDC, Zanu-PF, South Africa, Mbeki, sanctions, elections, United Nations