An African Failure

The continent's leaders respond weakly to Robert Mugabe's murderous repression.

ASHA-ROSE MIGIRO, a United Nations deputy secretary general, bluntly told the African Union summit Monday that the crisis in Zimbabwe presented "a moment of truth for regional leaders." Sadly, those leaders failed to rise to the occasion. Yesterday, the summit, badly divided between democrats outraged by Robert Mugabe's campaign of terror against his own people and dictators who have applied similar repression, could agree only on a weak statement calling for a "unity government." The truth the leaders dodged is that there can be no political peace in Zimbabwe until Mr. Mugabe and the clique of thugs around him give up power -- and that, in turn, is unlikely to happen if Zimbabwe's African neighbors do not apply tangible diplomatic and economic sanctions.

Both Mr. Mugabe and his opposition, which defeated him in a March 29 election, have publicly rejected the unity government proposal, which has been peddled mainly by such apologists for Mr. Mugabe as South African President Thabo Mbeki. The general idea is that Zimbabwe would adopt the model of Kenya, which formed a coalition government after a disputed election last year. But Raila Odinga, the Kenyan opposition leader who became prime minister in that accord, was among those who called for an entirely different course of action on Zimbabwe. The African Union, Mr. Odinga said, should expel Mr. Mugabe's government "and send peace forces to Zimbabwe to ensure free and fair elections."

Encouragingly, a number of other African leaders have taken a similar stand against the 84-year-old strongman, who all but destroyed his once prosperous country even before launching his murderous campaign this year to reverse the election results. Botswana also called for Mr. Mugabe's ouster from the African Union and the Southern African Development Community; Liberia and Sierra Leone, two formerly failed states that are recovering thanks to internationally sponsored elections, lobbied for a formal condemnation of the regime. The problem is that Mr. Mugabe is not the only autocrat in the African Union -- the fellow thugs who embraced him at the summit included its host, Egypt's Hosni Mubarak.

Africa's failure means that the challenge of Zimbabwe must now be taken up by the U.N. Security Council; Mr. Mugabe spurned its unanimous vote in favor of postponing the one-sided runoff election he staged last week. The United States is circulating an appropriately tough resolution that would declare Mr. Mugabe's new mandate illegitimate, freeze the assets of key associates and apply an arms embargo against his regime. Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, boldly predicted that some action will be taken, despite the predictable resistance of China and South Africa. "If there is no response," he asked, "what does that say about the council?" Answer: It would say that the United Nations is no more prepared than the African Union is to protect a suffering nation from a criminal government.