PrintJune 24, 2008
Your UN Tax Dollars at Work: Milquetoast on Zimbabwe
Yes people are getting murdered in the streets and the opposition leader has been forced to take refuge in a foreign embassy.
And yes, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is going to hold his sham runoff election anyway, thus guaranteeing the thug another term in office.
But did you really expect the UN to do anything substantial about it?
And yes, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is going to hold his sham runoff election anyway, thus guaranteeing the thug another term in office.
But did you really expect the UN to do anything substantial about it?
With Zimbabwe's opposition under siege and its leader taking refuge at the Dutch Embassy, the Security Council on Monday issued its first sweeping condemnation of the violence gripping the nation, saying it would be "impossible for a free and fair election to take place."
Zimbabwe has been reeling from a widening campaign of violence and intimidation ever since Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's president for nearly 30 years, came in second in the initial round of voting on March 29. On Sunday, only five days before a runoff, Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition standard-bearer, pulled out of the race, citing the extensive violence against his supporters.
Taking its first action on the crisis, the long-divided Council issued a one-page statement calling on the government of Zimbabwe to allow opposition rallies, which had been routinely blocked or canceled, and to free political prisoners.
"The Security Council regrets that the campaign of violence and the restrictions on the political opposition have made it impossible for a free and fair election to take place on 27 June," said the statement.
Ooooh! I'll be Mugabe is shaking in his boots. "The Security Council...REGRETS" that people are being gunned down and beaten up because they oppose the dictator. Whatever is Mugabe to do? Maybe he should run and hide before the SC "ABHORS" or perhaps "CONDEMNS" what's going on in that terribly tragic and bloody country.
Well, now that the UN Security Council is on the job I'm sure we'll see results - just like they disarmed Hezb'allah in Lebanon and brought peace and justice to Darfur.
Actually, for a moment, I thought they might actually, like, you know, DO SOMETHING - sanctions or some kind of multi-lateral effort to force Mugabe out. But after 28 years in power, the dictator knows he's safe from the weak kneed, grovelling bureaucrats at the UN. They are the least of his worries.
In the meantime, I'm sure the UN will send a delegation to Mugabe's innaugural. Nothing those UN lickspittle bureaucrats like better than a good party.
