VII. The Regional Failure to Address Zimbabwe's Crisis

Leaders of southern African states have repeatedly ignored the violations of human rights inflicted on the people of Zimbabwe by Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF government, and they have not taken serious steps to help alleviate their suffering.

ZANU-PF's long history of abuses culminated in the widespread violence in the build-up to the June 27, 2008 presidential election run-off between Mugabe and MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai. Tsvangirai was forced to pull out of the race after over 160 MDC activists were killed and thousands beaten and tortured.[113] 

Despite declarations by AU and SADC observers that the subsequent one-candidate elections were not free and fair due to the violence, Mugabe declared himself president. As this and previous Human Rights Watch reports document, serious human rights abuses by ZANU-PF continued, as before, following the signing of the Global Political Agreement between ZANU-PF and the MDC on September 15. Yet neither the AU nor SADC have condemned Mugabe's actions or taken any measures that would promote a genuine democratic transition, including questioning Mugabe's right to assume Zimbabwe's seat at the AU summit.

At the 11th ordinary session of the AU summit from June 30 to July 1, 2008, in Egypt, AU leaders missed an important opportunity to press Mugabe on the worsening human rights situation in a decisive manner.[114]  An AU resolution on Zimbabwe expressed deep concern at the situation in the country and its impact on the sub-region. The resolution appealed to the parties concerned to refrain from actions that would negatively impact on the climate of dialogue. However, the resolution failed to condemn the widespread violence perpetrated by ZANU-PF before the presidential run-off on June 27, or to hold Mugabe responsible. And instead of demanding respect for human rights in Zimbabwe, the resolution merely endorsed SADC's mediation efforts under former South African president Thabo Mbeki.

As many observers-Zimbabwean as well as international-warned it would, this approach has proven ineffectual. It is beyond time for the AU to act. SADC has not achieved the results that all African governments and their leaders must be surely committed to-the end of abuses and the restoration of the rule of law in Zimbabwe. There can be no genuine change in Zimbabwe if abuses are not tackled head-on and their perpetrators held to account.

The combination of political instability, the cholera outbreak, and severe food insecurity has driven thousands of Zimbabweans into neighboring countries. Credible current estimates say that over 38,000 Zimbabweans have lodged asylum claims in the South African border town of Musina since July 2008.[115] This is nearly double the total number of Zimbabwean claims in all six of South Africa's refugee reception offices in 2007. This influx also took cholera across Zimbabwe's borders. At least ten people have died from cholera in South Africa and doctors in Musina are treating hundreds of infected in cholera camps.[116] The South African authorities themselves declared the border with Zimbabwe a disaster area on December 11, 2008.[117] The cholera outbreak has also spread to Zimbabwe's other neighbors including Botswana, Mozambique, and Zambia.[118]

The crisis threatens the southern African sub-region, but the lack of sub-regional progress so far clearly indicates that the overt engagement of the AU as the wider African inter-governmental body is overdue. The crisis of political legitimacy in Zimbabwe is at the root of the country's problems. The urgent humanitarian needs of Zimbabweans cannot be isolated: their suffering is a direct consequence of ZANU-PF's abusive rule. The AU-and the wider international community-can only restore peace and security to the region by openly acknowledging the scale of the crisis, putting human rights at the top of the agenda, and holding abusers to account.