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Zim on the brink of anarchy
19/06/2008 21:13 - (SA)
Johannesburg - Zimbabwe was teetering on the edge of lawlessness and anarchy, the US Ambassador to Zimbabwe, James McGee, said in Pretoria on Thursday.
"It is a country on the brink of starvation. It has already fallen off the precipice of economic collapse and is sinking into a seemingly bottomless abyss," McGee told the Centre for International Political Studies at the University of Pretoria.
"These problems are the direct result of a regime that cares more about clinging to power and the personal riches it brings than it does the welfare of its citizens," he said.
"The government-directed campaign of violence and intimidation, coupled with planned electoral fraud makes a free and fair election impossible."
The only possible antidote was an immediate and large-scale commitment to independent electoral observation by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the AU and others.
Conceding that the US's influence "can only go so far" in Zimbabwe, McGee said the impact of the country's crisis would be felt the most by its neighbours, and that they could do the most to solve it.
Heinous acts
"The Mugabe regime has shown itself quite willing to ignore international condemnation of its heinous acts. It will find it much more difficult to ignore regional leaders and pressure.
"Make no mistake, Zimbabwe's ongoing crisis is a regional crisis. Its effects are being felt outside of Zimbabwe's borders and will continue to grow more severe," he said.
McGee said a new government which set responsible fiscal policies and was willing to work with the international financial institutions could start to bring Zimbabwe out of the economic abyss.
"It won't be quick, and it won't be easy, but we must start now, or it will be too late."
He said the most immediate threat facing many Zimbabweans was the out of control campaign of violence being waged by the regime of Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe.
"This once proud liberation movement is willing to beat and kill its own citizens. It is willing to violate the norms of civilised societies. It is willing to violate SADC's protocols on elections."
Lawless tyrants
Corruption, greed and the need to maintain themselves in power had converted freedom fighters and liberators into lawless tyrants, McGee charged.
"I have witnessed with my own eyes the victims of this violence, and any attempt to deny it or claim it is the result of opposition activity is simply a lie."
At a more basic level, there was no government of Zimbabwe.
"According to Zimbabwean law, the parliament was dissolved before the March 29 elections. The newly elected Parliament has never been convened," said McGee.
"We now have the situation of a regime claiming to be represented by 'ministers' who have not been appointed by any parliament."
- SAPA
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Zimbabwe Special Report
