Regional Pressure Building?
At H-SAfrica, the scholarly listserv on southern Africa, editor Peter Limb notes that there appears to be traction on the part of regional leaders becoming more vocal in their criticism of Robert Mugabe and his regime:
There certainly are signs of stronger views from Africa leaders:
In Kenya, PM Raila Odinga says the run-off is a sham and called for Mugabe to stand down.
Paul Kagame attacked Mugabe: “For me the question that it raises is why do you even call for elections?” Mr Kagame said.
ANC President-General Jacob Zuma says: “I think we’ll be lucky if we have a
free election,”; would it be fair: “I don’t think so.”As John Leaver notes, the problem is more than Mugabe: namely, the military.
One wonders if this criticism will accelerate leading up to the runoff and if it will result in action in the very likely event that Mugabe simply seizes the election.