Mr. Mugabe Wins

His campaign of terror will keep him in power, barring an international intervention.

ROBERT MUGABE'S campaign of terror against the people of Zimbabwe is succeeding. On Sunday, Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader who defeated him in the March 29 presidential election, withdrew from a runoff election that had been scheduled for Friday, citing the murder of 86 of his supporters and the torture, beating or displacement of tens of thousands of others. Yesterday, Mr. Tsvangirai sought refuge in the Dutch Embassy in Harare; he has been repeatedly detained by police while attempting to campaign, and his deputy has been imprisoned on treason charges. As a host of world leaders affirmed, Mr. Tsvangirai's decision was justified. But it also opened the way for Mr. Mugabe to hold a rigged vote and then award himself another mandate as president.

Only concerted and aggressive intervention by the United Nations and Zimbabwe's neighbors can now prevent this crime, brazenly carried out in front of the world, from going forward. Mr. Mugabe is betting there will be no such action -- and the record of the last three months backs him up. While the United States and Britain have repeatedly condemned Mr. Mugabe's terror and have tried to inspire action by the U.N. Security Council or the Southern African Development Community (SADC), they have been blocked by Mr. Mugabe's allies -- foremost among them Thabo Mbeki, South Africa's lame-duck president.

Yesterday the Western leaders tried again. A strong statement from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Mr. Mugabe's regime "cannot be considered legitimate in the absence of a runoff." She also demanded that it be "held accountable" for failing to protect its own people; under a new U.N. doctrine, that could justify international intervention. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown proposed new sanctions. Last night, the U.N. Security Council passed a non-binding statement saying that "the campaign of violence" had made a free and fair election on June 27 impossible.

But Mr. Mugabe isn't listening, and there is no indication that Mr. Mbeki has tempered South Africa's obstructionism of action, as opposed to statements by the United Nations. Other southern African leaders have begun to speak out, including the presidents of Zambia and Botswana. But without the support of Mr. Mbeki, who has been the SADC's designated mediator for Zimbabwe, they can have only limited influence.

Mr. Mbeki has appeared to be exploring the possibility of a compromise that would create a coalition government -- the formula adopted in Kenya following its tainted election this year. But there is no hope of political peace or economic recovery in Zimbabwe until Mr. Mugabe leaves office. That must remain the starting point of U.S. policy.