Waiting for Mbeki

"/.....If Zimbabwe is to brake its headlong descent into tyranny, famine and some of the world’s lowest life-expectancy figures, the leaders of neighboring African countries will have to bring strong political and economic pressure on Mr. Mugabe, and they will have to move quickly. So far they have done the opposite. In the midst of Mr. Mugabe’s reign of terror, his fellow African leaders appallingly selected the continent’s prime example of economic free fall as the chair of the United Nations’ Commission on Sustainable Development.

The leader with the most potential leverage is Thabo Mbeki... So far, Mr. Mbeki hasn’t done much more than write a few letters.....

If the human tragedy of Zimbabwe cannot move Mr. Mbeki, he might at least consider his own country’s narrow self-interest. Potential investors in South Africa can only be put off by the growing tide of misery and upheaval just over the border. "