Opinion: Zimbabwe's downward spiral

A Times Editorial

Zimbabwe's downward spiral

Thanks to the morally bankrupt rule of President Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe is a country upended.

For the first time in his 21 years in office, Mugabe is facing real political opposition that is threatening his chances for re-election in March. He has responded with a lawless campaign of land reform, brutality toward political opponents and blatant attempts to disrupt the free and fair election process.

Under the guise of righting the wrongs of British colonialism, Mugabe has encouraged black squatters, who claim to be veterans from the country's war of independence, to illegally occupy white-owned farms. The disruption of 1,700 of the nation's 4,500 white-owned farms -- one of the country's primary sources of food production -- has resulted in serious shortages. Inflation is running at 65 percent and there are growing threats of widespread famine. Unemployment has soared to 60 percent, in part because occupied white-owned farms had been large-scale employers for black farm workers who are now out of jobs.

Mugabe's campaign against white-owned farms has less to do with land reform than with his own political future. White farmers are overwhelmingly supportive of the Movement for Democratic Change, the opposition party looking to oust Mugabe in the next election. Blacks too have lined up in substantial numbers behind the opposition and it has got Mugabe scared. His response has been to move the country toward autocratic rule, and there are ominous signs that he will not relinquish power voluntarily. Opposition members have been targeted for widespread violence, even murder, and many have been arrested on trumped-up charges. Laws have been proposed to ban domestic and international observers for the coming election. And the country no longer has a free press. The only independent daily, which had been supportive of Mugabe's opposition, has been bombed, the editor arrested and some of its reporters beaten. Foreign journalists have been ejected from the country when their reports anger the government and a law has been proposed to bar all foreign journalists from reporting there. Repeatedly, the press and his political opposition have been referred to as "terrorist forces" by Mugabe.

Things have unraveled so badly that Thabo Mbeki, the president of South Africa, set aside his policy of quiet diplomacy and publicly condemned the situation. The result was a tirade of anti-Mbeki invective in the local media.

The United States has little direct influence on Zimbabwe. We do not send it any international foreign aid. But the House recently added its voice to the Senate by passing a bill to send $26-million in aid and extinguish some of Zimbabwe's debt if the rule of law is restored and market reforms made.

Unfortunately, the prospect for this plan's success is not good. In September, the international community and other African nations in particular, made a last-ditch effort to stabilize Zimbabwe. The accord said that Zimbabwe would suspend land seizures, respect the rule of law and act against violence. In exchange, Britain agreed to provide funds for a land redistribution program.

But the violence has not subsided nor any of the other commitments met. Mugabe is apparently intent on joining the pantheon of African tyrants, willing to sacrifice the well-being of the people to retain his own grip on power.

Sadly, as the election approaches, it looks less likely that things will be put right. Absent armed intervention, there is a question whether the international community can do anything now to change the country's spiral into chaos.