Mugabe Feeling The Pressure

This week, African leaders meet in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt for an African Union (AU) summit. President Robert Mugabe made his way to Sharm el-Sheikh after his inauguration and it was clear that he did not want to hear any advice from other countries. He went there thinking that no-one would speak up about all that has taken place in Zimbabwe. This was not the case as some of the leaders at the summit took the opportunity to express their concerns about the situation in Zimbabwe. The AU commission chairman, Jean Ping was one of the first to raise his concerns about the violence and intimidation in Zimbabwe followed by Raila Odinga, the Kenyan Prime Minister who urged the AU to suspend Mugabe until he allowed free and fair elections and Ernest Koromo, the President of Sierra Leone commented that the people of Zimbabwe have been ‘denied their democratic rights.’ All the criticism would not have been easy for him to take especially with him being there at the time. This is something that is necessary and I applaud the people who have managed to speak up.

It looks like African leaders have realized that doing nothing is not an option because Mugabe will do whatever it takes to stay in power which was evident from the June 27th election and his hasty Presidential inauguration on the 29th of June. There was nothing free and fair about that election. President Mugabe did not look too pleased at the summit after all the criticism he faced and by the looks of things he is beginning to feel the pressure. This may explain his outburst when he was approached by a journalist at the summit:

A recent visitor to this blog, Hilary left a comment with a link to a petition to make world leaders recognize Mugabe’s crimes and speak out against him – Global Action for Zimbabwe – you can make a difference.