African leaders stay silent on Mugabe
I really don't know why I pretend to myself that certain people are going to do the right thing. It's like I'm tormenting myself, pretending that people have some innate sense of right and wrong which will, in the end, prevail; when it appears that they simply don't.
That the AU could sit with this man in it's midst and not mention the brutality which he has unleashed upon innocent people in Zimbabwe simply leaves me speechless.Africa's leaders have failed publicly to condemn Robert Mugabe for stealing Zimbabwe's presidential election by proceeding with a run-off vote in which he was sole candidate at the height of an officially orchestrated intimidation campaign.
At a summit of the 53 member states of the African Union – in which stable democracies remain a minority – Mr Mugabe was praised as a "hero" by the veteran President of Gabon, Omar Bongo.
Although he was not addressed as "Mr President" by fellow summiteers gathered in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, the embattled Zimbabwean leader was comforted by speeches in which few spoke out about the political violence in his country. His most vocal opponent, President Levy Patrick Mwanawasa of Zambia, suffered a stroke and was rushed to hospital on the eve of the summit.
This was the moment for the AU to step up to the plate and they have failed to do so. Despite the lead of Mandela, Tutu and the ANC they have publicly said nothing.
They should be ashamed of themselves.
Meanwhile the torture and brutality continues inside Zimbabwe whilst the AU entertain Mugabe as if he was a visiting dignitary.
This is the story told by a seventy year old woman who watched her own son shot for supporting the MDC.
This is going on all over Zimbabwe whilst Mugabe sits there, feted as if he is a world leader. Zimbabwe's shame is now truly Africa's shame. This was their moment. This was their time to step up to the plate, inspired by the ANC, Mandela and Tutu.The old woman was not spared. "They hit me on my back and ribs. As they beat me, they said to me: 'Did you think you could get away with betraying your country? You, old woman did you think you'd get away with this?' I saw them shoot my son again before I fainted."
When she came to, she found that the brutally beaten family had been dragged to a clearing in the village.
In a ritual humiliation that has been repeated throughout Zimbabwe, Gibb was forced to renounce his party and insult the MDC leader. Then they called for volunteers from the village to execute him. She did not recognise the man that pulled the trigger.
Murder complete, they were put back on the pick-up – one of the hundreds of new Mahandra vehicles with no number plates that have been purchased by the bankrupt state and issued to the death squads.
Another stop was made to shoot dead Hama Madamombe, a well known local MDC supporter, and abduct his brother.
The surviving family was transported to the Tetra farm about 30 miles away, one of the thousands of commercial farms seized by the Mugabe regime. It now belongs to the notoriously violent Chigwada brothers, Effluence and Shami, who have set up one of the Zanu torture camps there.
By the time they arrived at the camp, it was dark. The beatings that had begun mid-morning started again. No one remembers how long they went on.
But when their torturers grew tired they brought out the bottles of Paraquat – a Chinese-manufactured herbicide, used to kill weeds.
It has become a weapon of choice in Zimbabwe's political terror campaign and the militia have been instructed to dip their sticks in it before beating victims.
The four terrified survivors were then forced to drink it. Mrs Chigoro remembers her son, Hamilton, telling her not to swallow the burning liquid.
They have manifestly failed to do so. And, all the while they were sitting there, Mugabe's death squads continued to round people up in Zimbabwe, putting blood on all of their hands.
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