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'Stop shielding Mugabe'
28/04/2008 21:14 - (SA)
Maputo - A leading Mozambican human rights group urged regional leaders on Monday to stop shielding President Robert Mugabe from criticism because of his role in Zimbabwe's liberation war.
Alice Mabota, president of Liga do Direitos Humano (League of Human Rights), said that too many of Mugabe's peers in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) refused to speak out against Mugabe as they shared a common background in fighting against colonialist rule.
"SADC leaders need to publicly criticise Mugabe," Mabota told a press conference in Maputo.
"We appreciate the role they played at that time but they need to understand that their time has come to an end. It is high time that we have young leaders with no connection with wars of liberation."
Many leaders among the 14-nation SADC played prominent roles in the wars of liberation, their parties having evolved from guerrilla movements, such as the ANC in South Africa and Frelimo in Mozambique.
President Thabo Mbeki has been particularly reluctant to speak out against Mugabe, denying that the failure to release results from an election held on March 29 constituted a failure.
The Zimbabwean opposition has accused the country's electoral commission of deliberately sitting on the results, saying it knows Mugabe lost after 28 years in power but is trying to keep him in office.
Mabota said that electoral commissions in the whole southern African region need to assert their independence from governments.
"Very soon we will have elections in Angola, South Africa and Mozambique but our question, with the situation in Zimbabwe, will be what role will electoral commissions play?'," she said.
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