Mugabe please can someone explain to me

[1shoe]

why this monster(apologies to monsters but didn't want to swear) is being allowed to get away with what he is doing? why is the rest of the world not stopping him.
I mean this country.

MsDemeanour - that rumour has been round for years - I had the (dis)pleasure of meeting him (briefly) before things turn really nasty (after the economy had crashed but just before country started to slide into the mess it's in now) and he seemed ok then.......that was almost exactly 10yrs ago......

I hope that now Morgan Tsvangirai has pulled out of the election this will force others (who?) to do something (what?).

I believe things will be going on behind the scenes to incetivise Mugabe to step down, as someone already said, perhaps he'll be offered a haven somewhere else and you have to hope that as a very old man he'll just go.
I cant see it but I do have faith that steps are being taken to encourage him to go.
I don't think we really can or should force him out by military means, but I think we owe african nations our help.

The problem is that there's nothing in it for 'us'. What is so frustrating is that if we weren't tied up in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting over oil and heroin, then we might have been able to do something in Zimbabwe and return it to it's former glory of being the breadbasket of Africa, feed the world etc.

really FAQ? How did he strike you then? He does seem significantly madder now, but maybe I just didn't know because it wasn't reported.

Got to say though, that bar exploitative, destructive interventions a la Iraq, I wouldn't care how many of my tax pennies were spent on freeing Zimbabwe of it's dictator.
We are an EXTREMELY privileged country and we got this way, in no small part, at the expense of other countries who are still paying the price.
I don't know what can be done, but we certainly shouldn't turn our backs for financial reasons.

A little bit of me just wishes an assassin would go in and bump off Mugabe and his top men. It wouldn't take much more than that to stop impending civil war.

Where's the CIA when you need 'em.

not quite 100 thou

I don't think UK is turning its back on Zimbabwe for financial reasons but perhaps I've missed something..

No, it was kind of in response to QVs post.

I have heard that Mugabe is terrified of leaving Zimbabwe in case he is prosecuted for war crimes. Sorry can't find a source for that just now.

I think the comparison between Hitler and Mugabe is fair enough: they are murdering dictators - the numbers of dead may not be the same but that's hardly the point.

I don't think he will leave Zim if given the choice to go to another country. He lives in a mansion and in the lap of luxury as I've heard. Would you leave a coushy life if you didn't need to? I don't think Mbeki would do anything either since Mugabe and he are friends.
I do agree with TheDullWitch but not sure if that will be the answer.

yes his mansion outside of Harare is massive, and serviced by an excellent road (probably the only decent road in the country) - much to the delight of the local homestead owners as it means that instead of miles and miles of dirt or pothole filled roads to get to their homesteads they have fabulous tarmac.

Oh I didn't mean it like that JV. Just a turn of phrase really - I wasn't suggesting that helping Zimbabwe should boil down to cost. Just that if we were going to do something I'd rather folk in danger were shipped out and given safe secure housing than send troops over there to destroy half the towns and villages in order to 'root out' the bad guys. Which I think they'll find incredibly hard to do - same as in Afghanistan and Iraq. Because there are plenty of folk who like things the way they are. They are benefitting from it. At least shipping folk out reduces the human cost - particularly on the 'innocents'.

the rest of Africa won't do anything because the rest of Africa is equally corrupt. And there is a lot of talk that South Africa will be the next Zimbabwe - already thousands of white farmers have been murdered over there - not necessarily by the government but sill... except it doesn't get reported on the news...

The whole WORLD is corrupt, wannabe. The west is just generally better at hiding it.

(in case anyone thinks I am rude by starting a thread and leaving it. I am lurking as I really don't understand this.)

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Mugabe over the last few years has apparently had

Syphilis
Parkinsons

and numerous other illnesses too lol.

Personally I just think he's a nutter who let the power go to his head.........

When I was in Zim a couple of times very briefly in the early 90's the story was that he had a helicopter going 24 hours a day on the roof of his mansion (which you're also not allowed to drive past after 6 in the evening), just in case there was a coup...

Very how that country has been ruined by a lunatic and his henchmen.

Isn't the problem with international intervention that most (all?) other African nations are implicitly or explicitly supporting Mugabe? Therefore, "the West" doesn't want to be seeming to over-ride the neighbours.

Mugabe's been 'dying of syphilis/Parkinsons/dementia' for 10 or 15yrs now. 'Tis wishful thinking, I suspect.

Worryingly, the way he's governed his country has provided a great role model for other African leaders who wish to rob their people blind. The corruption is unbelievable. I don't know what the answer is or whether Zimbabwe can ever regain its former status.

very true Suedonim - I think it's been about 10yrs since he started dying of all/some/any of those things - seem to recall the rumours started when I was still living there.

I suspect it may be hard for it to regain its former status, many of it's "key" workers, and young people have (when they are able) left for SA, US, UK, Australia etc.

The situation is similar to 1933, when it was known that Hitler had a programme.

The only person who consistently stood up against it was Churchill. The rest of parliament, and the people in general, were against intervention.

Single-handedly, he stood against Hitler in the 1930s, and he brought the people round. Were it not for Churchill, there wouldn't be a single Jew alive today.

Shit can happen, even in 'civilized' societies, in any era. History teaches us that much. The human race doesn't change much, but for the toys they get to play with.

This is different, it being Africa and not a closely related European state .. but the augers are all there.

It will take one man, or one woman, to defy this evil ... because that is what it is.