Bush has come out and chided countries in Africa for turning a blind eye to the regimen genocide ongoing in Zimbabwe. I would assume that this is timed to coincide with the G8 summit and the huge plan to aid, trade, and liberalize the continent.

WASHINGTON – US President George W Bush yesterday accused Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe of “destroying” his country and urged countries in the region, especially South Africa, to pressure him to change.

“Next door to you is a person who is destroying a country because of bad policy, and it’s not right. And the nations in the neighbourhood must be strong,” Bush said ahead of a trip to Europe next week.

Asked whether he was disappointed that President Thabo Mbeki had avoided publicly criticising Mugabe, Bush told a small group of news organisations, including AFP: “I’m disappointed in Mugabe. The world needs to speak very clearly about the decisions he has made and the consequences” for those decisions.

Bush left little doubt he believed South Africa bore a special burden to speak out.

“My message has been very consistent: You’re a great democracy, you’re showing the world what is possible after the terrible period of apartheid, in terms of how to reconcile differences, and you’re a very strong nation on the continent of Africa,” he said.

But he again rejected using US assistance as a leverage on Zimbabwe, saying: “Are we willing to tie some of our aid to the position that nations take on Zimbabwe?

“No, because I don’t want people to suffer, more people to suffer, as a result of Zimbabwe,” the president said.

South Africa is the big regional player, and as a democratic country, we should have been able to count on it to exert pressure on Mugabe in large quantities. One main problem with this expectation is that President Mbeki is an ideological acolyte of Mugabe, albeit he is much more constrained due to the institutions in place in his own country. However, it effects the way that South Africa leads, and with Mbeki and those similar to him at the helm, it means that the government will not take up the cause.

One big excuse that Mbeki and others from neighboring powers use is that it encroaches on the sovereignty of Zimbabwe. First of all, I would contend that this is false, as totalitarian systems are far removed from accountability to the people, therefore making the agenda between government and people a seismic divide. Sovereignty must ultimately be with the people, whose governments serve their interests. The constitution of Zimbabwe, in its current form and use, does not do that, making the claim of violating Zimbabwe’s sovereignty absolute crock.

As I noted in an earlier post, these countries also do not want to get involved because it would have implications on their own ability to rule without interference. These governments fear that any decision they make could be liable to international pressure on their own “sovereignty.” This is because they have committed their own acts very similar to those of Mugabe but on a slightly smaller scale. It’s really rather pathetic, and revealing of just how backward the “democratic” governments in Africa are. Don’t expect much of them.