The “abhorrent spectacle” of Robert Mugabe being inaugurated as president after Friday’s sham election “prompted widespread revulsion”, said The Daily Telegraph. Kenya’s prime minister Raila Odinga called for African Union (AU) troops to be deployed to Zimbabwe, and Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, publicly criticised his regime.
Mugabe raced to the African Union summit in Egypt to try and “bounce” Africa’s leaders into accepting his victory, said The Independent; instead, the 53-nation AU adopted a resolution calling for a government of national unity to resolve the crisis. Yet few criticised Mugabe, said Maurice Gerard in the Daily Express. Sierra Leone denounced his terror tactics; Botswana said the election should not stand and called for Zimbabwe to be kicked out of the AU, but others held their council.
It is vital that Mugabe loses the support of African as well as Western countries, said The Economist, but South Africa is key. The country’s spineless president, Thabo Mbeki, is still refusing to criticise Mugabe publicly, but his likely successor, the new ANC leader Jacob Zuma has done so, and the country’s trade unions have called for a blockade.
Embargoes are the only answer, said Malcolm Rifkind in The Sunday Telegraph. Mugabe depends on neighbouring countries for all Zimbabwe’s oil imports and half its electricity. If these were embargoed and all trade with its neighbours stopped, led by South Africa, “Mugabe would be gone with a month”. Sanctions risk hurting those they are designed to help, said The Daily Telegraph. But the brave people of Zimbabwe “may think it a price worth paying”.
South Africa should also join in imposing the targeted financial and travel sanctions already enforced by the EU, the Americans and other governments against Mugabe and 130-odd of his closest comrades, said the Economist. Depriving Mugabe’s cronies of their ill-gotten perks could have a “salutatory effect”.