'Let's do something about Zim'
2008-05-01 14:06
Special Report
A classical music presenter for the BBC has been arrested and is in custody in Zimbabwe.
New York - Liberia's president urged African leaders on Wednesday to ensure that the results of Zimbabwe's presidential election reflects the will of the people.
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf recalled that the back-to-back civil wars in Liberia from 1989 to 2003 that left 200 000 people dead were "a tragedy rooted in suppression of the will of the people and the choice of the people."
"This is why today ... we send a strong message to all the African leaders to look at the Liberia example - to know that when the will of the people is suppressed, you create the underground tensions and torrents that eventually can lead to unmaking a society," she said.
Sirleaf warned that the effects of that suppression spill over into the region - as happened with Liberia's wars.
Careful of Zimbabwe
"Our message is that be careful of Zimbabwe. Make sure that we do not follow what happened in Liberia," she said.
"And so I'm one of those African leaders who say to our other leaders and our colleagues, it's time to do something about Zimbabwe," Sirleaf said.
Her appeal was greeted with loud applause by a VIP audience of several hundred at a luncheon where she received an award for leadership in democracy, development and peacebuilding in Africa from the International Crisis Group, an independent organisation that provides analysis of global hotspots to try to prevent and resolve conflicts.
Many world leaders have expressed dismay that Zimbabwean electoral officials have yet to say whether President Robert Mugabe or opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai won the March 29 presidential election. Independent observers say that Tsvangirai, who leads the Movement for Democratic Change, defeated Mugabe, but did not secure an outright majority necessary to avoid a runoff. Tsvangirai insists he did. Mugabe has stayed silent.
"We would absolutely agree" with the Liberian president, said South Africa's UN Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo. "That's what we are trying to do with this recounting so that the people who voted a month ago have a right to know what happened."
But Zimbabwe's UN Ambassador Boniface Chidyausiku dismissed Sirleaf's appeal.
"I wonder what she would say about Hamas winning an election in Palestine," he asked.
"She can talk about Liberia," Chidyausiku said, "but I think she's not an authority on Zimbabwe."
At the luncheon, the International Crisis Group also presented awards to Finland's former president Martti Ahtisaari for his "outstanding contributions to conflict prevention and resolution in Europe, Asia and Africa," and to Samina Ahmed for her "outstanding and courageous" work for Crisis Group in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
- AP