Obama "tones down" criticism of Mugabe

WASHINGTON, Feb 2 (Reuters) - The Obama administration has toned down U.S. rhetoric against Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, dropping for now a public demand the veteran African leader step down, said U.S. officials on Monday.

In its closing months, the Bush administration intensified calls for Mugabe to quit, saying Washington could no longer support a government that included him.

Quit, why should he quit just because he stole/lost the election and then terrorized people when the did a revote, and then signed an agreeement but lied that they would share power with the MDC...after all, despite the agreement, they are keeping all the guns and power, and only giving Tsvangirai the dregs...while arresting and terrorizing opposition leaders.
But U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity as Zimbabwe policy is under review, said the language against Mugabe was less forceful under President Barack Obama, who took over two weeks ago.


The goal, they said, was to give southern African nations breathing space in dealing with Mugabe who has agreed on a power-sharing arrangement with Zimbabwe's opposition....


"It's well past time for Robert Mugabe to leave," Rice said in December, adding that African nations must take the lead on pressuring him to quit. Most African states, including South Africa, have stopped short of calling on Mugabe to leave..

Bull. South Africa has been an enabler of Mugabe, looking the other way at the atrocities and pretending they aren't happening. And they don't need "breathing space" to deal with Mugabe: they need a backbone...


On Friday, when pressed whether the U.S. view was still that Mugabe must quit, State Department spokesman Robert Wood avoided calling for the veteran leader's ouster but said there was skepticism whether his power-sharing deal would work.

Skepticism? Can't imagine why (sarcasm)...

Obama calls South African President

from FP magazine:

This morning's Times (London) reported that the Obama administration is planning a tougher stance against Zimbabwe's self-ordained president-for-all-time, Robert Mugabe. Then at the White House Daily Press Briefing today, we learned that Obama made a call to the president of South Africa, Kaglema Motlanthe.

Is Obama calling to talk Zimbabwe? Now would be good timing. Just today at a summit in South Africa, Mugabe and the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai look to have agreed to form their long-awaited unity government....

Mbeki has muddled through moderating talks since September, favoring his fellow former-anticolonial comrade Mugabe.

Since Mbeki resigned as president and interim leader Motlanthe took over, the odds of South Africa putting on the pressure are even lower. ... As Human Rights Watch analyst Tiseke Kasambala recently told me, "there are domestic goings on in South Africa now that will likely take South Africa's eye off the ball."

None of the rumored Africa people from the new administration have returned e-mail messages about Obama-Zimbabwe policy. But my hope is that Mugabe's name came up in the phone call. I would bet more money on that than I would the Zimbabwean currency.