Mbeki: No Crisis in Zimbabwe

Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa's efforts to break the impasse in Zimbabwe were undermined when Robert Mugabe snubbed a meeting of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) where opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai would be present. Instead, Mugabe met with South African President Thabo Mbeki. For his part, Mbeki publicly declared there is "no crisis" in Zimbabwe. He added Zimbabwe Electoral Commission should be given more time to release the results of the Presidential election. For crying out loud, it's already been two weeks. How much time does Mbeki think the Commission needs? Six months? Or until such time that the results can be manipulated to give Mugabe more than 50% of the vote? Of course, what can on expect from a man who believes poverty and not HIV causes AIDS? Well, Mbeki can go on thinking there's no crisis in Zimbabwe. But Mugabe has banned all political rallies. The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is planning to launch an indefinite general strike on April 15th. If that isn't a crisis then what is?