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July 2, 2008
Are African Leaders Doing Enough about the Election Crisis in Zimbabwe?

VIDEO SUMMARY: Robert Mugabe

Zimbabwe in southern Africa was the site of a contested presidential election last week. The major opposition party leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew from the election, citing violence and unfair tactics by his opponent, current president Robert Mugabe who has ruled the country, many say with an increasingly hard hand, for the last 28 years.

After swearing in for his sixth term as president Mugabe travelled to Egypt for a meeting of the African Union, an international organization made up of leaders from 53 African countries. At this meeting the AU adopted a resolution calling for Zimbabwe to form a government of national unity to resolve the election crisis there.

In this video report two individuals, one from the Open Society Institute which promotes civil societies and one from Africa Action, an organization that promotes human rights and hopes to influence U.S. policy on the continent, attempt to explain the nuances of the AU resolution.

They provide analysis on what this decision means for the African Union as a whole as well as why certain AU member states might be reluctant to call for Mugabe to leave the presidency. In addition, the guests address the issue of what role Western governments, like the United States, should play in this conflict.

SELECTED QUOTES:

“[The African Union resolution is] significant in the sense that they have told Robert Mugabe that the status quo is not acceptable. A disappointment, I think, in that, for those people who see Mr. Mugabe as having bludgeoned his way back into power, he is not going to pay for that. He is going to be allowed to continue to be a member of the government in Zimbabwe.” - Akwe Amosu, the Open Society Institute

“If you look at the guiding strategy of the A.U., it’s really quiet, behind-the-scene intervention. There’s an over-emphasis on respecting national sovereignty and a lack of readiness to interfere in what is seen as internal conflicts.” - Briggs Bomba, Africa Action

“For Americans who perhaps don’t necessarily get to follow Africa every day — what’s important to understand is that there’s a very, very strong movement of civil society actors in Africa today who are demanding change, who are putting their heads of state under pressure in a way that really was never done before.” - Akwe Amosu, the Open Society Institute

“I think unilateral action by Western powers is counterproductive. One of the messages that we see coming out of Egypt clearly is African leaders saying Africa is capable of handling the problems that we are confronted with and the message is we ought to say we are not going to be taking orders on this, particularly from the West.” - Briggs Bomba, Africa Action

WARM UP QUESTIONS:

Look for Zimbabwe on a map? What do you know about the country? What is a free and fair democratic election? Whose role is it to decide if a country’s election is fair?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

Do you agree with the guests in the video report that this resolution is a positive step forward for the African Union? What more do you think the AU should be doing? What role do you think the United States and other non-African nations should play in disputed elections like those in Zimbabwe? How does your opinion compare to the guests in the video?

RESOURCES:

The transcript to the video segment

NewsHour Update: African Leaders Seek Common Ground on Zimbabwe Election Dispute

The African Union Web site

Africa Action

The Open Society Institute

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