TONY COX, host:
This is News & Notes. I'm Tony Cox.
Time now for our Africa Update. This week, the latest on Zimbabwe's health crisis and political stalemate, plus, China takes on pirates off the coast of Somalia. And for more now, we've got Emira Woods, she is co-director of Foreign Policy in Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies. Emira, how are you?
Ms. EMIRA WOODS (Co-Director, Foreign Policy in Focus, Institute for Policy Studies): I'm well. How are you doing, Tony?
COX: I'm doing fine. Thank you very much. Let's begin with this. In Zimbabwe, where there was mounting international pressure on President Robert Mugabe to step down, South Africa, Britain, France and the United states have told Mugabe, have hold - or are holding Mugabe responsible for the country's economic collapse, and blame him for a cholera outbreak that has killed more than a thousand people. Now, Emira, I'm going to ask you to respond to something, but I want to play a couple of soundbites for you. Here's the first one. Over the weekend, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi E. Frazer met with regional leaders in an attempt to get them to get tough on Mugabe. But Mugabe vowed never to surrender, and he remains defiant.
President ROBERT MUGABE (Zimbabwe): I will never, never sell my country. I will never, never, never, never surrender. Zimbabwe is mine.
COX: Now, Frazer also said that the U.S. is withdrawing its offer to end sanctions and renegotiate with international lending institutions, an offer that had been based on a commitment to power sharing.
Ms. JENDAYI FRAZER (Assistant Secretary of State, United States of America): We have no confidence that there will be genuine power sharing, which we believe is necessary to put in place the policies that would actually reverse the failed state, the failed economy. And certainly, in the political violence, which were continuing to see today, with, you know, more than 30 people who have recently been disappeared, over just the last month, we can't go on with that.
COX: So Emira, an often lot of talking. How long can this stalemate go on?
Ms. WOODS: Well, that's the question. And you know, it's innocent Zimbabweans, especially women and children, who are suffering from a lack of adequate healthcare, without food to put on their table. These are the folks that are really paying the price, Tony. It has gone on much too long already. But clearly, since the March elections, since the June presidential run off, it has been month after month of delay. And what is needed is not more saber-rattling, really, from Jendayi Frazer or the members of the Bush administration, or even the European Union. What is needed is the African Union continuing to push, not in its quiet diplomacy, but in a much more visible and public way, to insist that the power sharing go forward, that Mugabe actually does step down if he cannot agree to the power sharing arrangement as has been put forward on the table.
COX: But why are the other leaders of the African nations reluctant to stand up to Mugabe more forcefully?
Ms. WOODS: Well, it's exactly this game of rhetoric. So clearly, Mugabe, the liberation leader, has a lot sympathetic ears still because of his historic role in liberation movements, not only in South Africa, but throughout the African continent. What happens when Jendayi Frazer and others from the Bush administration speak out, it is almost as if plays in to the hand of Mugabe and his cohorts, essentially saying that they are the only ones that are standing up against the imperialist West. So what is needed is actually African leadership, as has been happening. But it needs to be ramped up to make sure that the deal is not only voiced, but is also finalized, implemented and put in practice.
COX: So where does all of this, for example, leave Morgan Tsvangirai, who leads the opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change?
Ms. WOODS: In a very difficult place, I think. The Movement for Democratic Change is in a tough spot now. They have now gone along with this power sharing agreement. Yet, they cannot accept the posts into these cabinet positions that are seeing as less powerful posts. And so they want not just a name of, you know, co-president, but they want in reality, power sharing. They want in reality the change that the Zimbabwean people so much deserve and need right now. So they - the Movement for Democratic Change, the trade unionists, the farmers associations, women's associations, human rights activists, all are put in a very tough spot of potentially facing more repression as this stalemate continues.
COX: Well, meanwhile, the cholera outbreak continues, and Mugabe is even saying that it was started by a Britain. This is a problem on top of a problem.
Ms. WOODS: Clearly, you have now escalating numbers of people, not only in Zimbabwe, but throughout southern Africa, exposed, as, you know, a disease, Tony, you know well, does not - no borders. And here you have people going across borders, lack of access to clean water is the problem. But clearly, the infections of cholera can not only create crippling conditions in Zimbabwe, but can easily be transferred to Zimbabwe's neighbors. So this is, you know, on tip of a food crisis, on top of an economic collapse, on top of a political crisis, this is yet another, and could well be the final straw in Zimbabweans.
COX: Let's stay tuned. Let's move on to the Horn of Africa, where continued piracy in the waters off Somalia have brought international attention to the area. China now set to send warships to take on the pirates and protect their country's vessels and crews from pirate attacks. But aid groups say, more needs to be done about the violence inside Somalia. The capital city of Mogadishu has been under siege from an Islamist insurgency. So I guess one question, Emira, is, which is worse, you know, the piracy or the poverty?
Ms. WOODS: Well, let's be clear. You know, the core problem in Somalia is the lack of a government. You know, there was a government for a very brief period, from June 2006 to December 2006. And the - essentially, the Bush administration decided that because that government called itself the Union of Islamic Courts, that they needed to be ousted, they were extremists. And so there began a series of air strikes back in December '06, which has further destabilized the situation in Somalia. Destabilized the political crisis and also destabilized the economy. There have been food riots in Somalia as in many other countries around the world. So what you have is - on top of a political crisis and an economic crisis, you now have this issue of piracy. But clearly, there were no pirates in that six-month period when Somalia had a government.
And what is needed now is not for China, nor the U.S., nor the European Union, nor any other country to go forward with either naval assaults or, potential now, under new UN resolution. You know, going on the land to pursue this terrorist, so air strikes could potentially happen in Somalia now. What is needed is not this further militarization of the Somali situation but essentially, going at the root cause here, working with Somalis to really be able to put in place to help Somalis put in place a government that they see as credible. Not as occupiers or proxies for external forces, whether the U.S. or the Ethiopia. But a government that Somalis believe represents their interest can help put together, not only a political resolution, but an economic resolution that meets the needs of the people.
COX: I don't know if China or any other nation is really listening to that point of view, Emira, to be quite honest with you. And in fact, that piracy has not only - it has spread south from the Gulf of Aden going down towards Kenya on the eastern coast of the Indian Ocean. That seems to be a widening problem, doesn't it?
Ms. WOODS: But Tony, once you have a government that can assert it sovereignty, control its territorial borders, that is the opportunity to actually address these issues. And we have to remember, there are also international measures. You have - you know, international policing, Interpol, and other mechanism through which there can be greater policing with this piracy is an issue of organized crime. Right? So we have to deal with it as an issue of organized crime, and not insist that the solution is to bring in, whether Chinese, or America, or other navies, and armies, and militaries to further destabilize the Somali crisis.
COX: Well, there certainly is a great deal of news coming out of Africa keeping you very busy. We appreciate your taking the time to share your information and knowledge with our audience, as you always do so very well.
Ms. WOODS: It's an honor. Thank you, Tony.
COX: Emira Woods is co-director or Foreign Policy in Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies. She joined us from our headquarters in Washington, D.C.
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