US wants Mugabe out - official

2003-04-15 08:21

Washington - The United States is urging Zimbabwe's neighbours to step up pressure on President Robert Mugabe to hand power to a transitional government to pave the way for new elections, said a senior state department official.

"What we're telling them is there has to be a transitional government in Zimbabwe that leads to a free and fair, internationally supervised election," the official said on Monday.

"That is the goal. He stole the last one, we can't let that happen again," the official said, referring to a widely condemned election last March in which Mugabe won re-election.

"It has to be internationally supervised, open, transparent with an electoral commission that works," the official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

The official would not say whether Washington had had positive reactions to its call from any specific country in the region, but said generally the "neighbourhood" was increasingly aware of the problems posed by Mugabe's rule.

"The neighbourhood (meaning southern Africa) is realising that this is not going well, this is breaking badly," the official said.

Fears that the crisis could spread

"The food situation is going to get nothing but worse, the economic scene is disastrous."

The official noted that Zimbabwe's economy was now crippled by hyperinflation and an unemployment rate of 80% and that Zimbabweans were fleeing their country in droves to become refugees in Botswana, Mozambique, and South Africa.

In addition, the situation in Zimbabwe was hurting the economies of other countries in the region as potential investors steered clear because they feared the crisis would spread.

"The neighbourhood is starting to realise there is a downside to giving aid and protection to Comrade Bob," the official said, using a derogatory nickname for Mugabe.

"There is stuff happening, there is stuff happening behind the scenes," the official added, declining to elaborate.

However, the official said assistant secretary of state for African affairs Walter Kansteiner would be heading to two of Zimbabwe's neighbours - Botswana and South Africa - later this month, partly to discuss the situation.

Mbeki's 'quiet diplomacy' criticised

The United States has been a vociferous critic of Mugabe in recent months and led a charge at the UN Human Rights Commission to condemn the Harare government.

South African President Thabo Mbeki, whose country is seen as wielding the most influence with Mugabe, has been reluctant to enter the fray and restated his support at the weekend for so-called "quiet diplomacy" in encouraging reforms in Zimbabwe.

He broke his silence in late March after hundreds of people, most of them opposition supporters, were arrested, detained and assaulted after a national anti-government work stoppage.

However, Mbeki said on Sunday he would not use his position as chairman of the African Union to condemn human rights abuses in Zimbabwe because the organisation had not yet taken a position on the issue.

"You may well ask why it hasn't happened, but it hasn't," he told a conference of African editors.

Mbeki said the Southern African Development Community was dealing with the situation, including the issue of press freedom and various pieces of legislation related to press, general and political freedoms.

Opposition leaders in Zimbabwe say they are planning another nationwide "mass action" against Mugabe's government but have not said when it will take place.

- AFX