Calls for Mugabe To Step Down
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Zimbabwe’s impeccably dressed President Mugabe can’t shop at Savile Row and Harrods anymore. The security minister’s sons were thrown out of an Australian university. The foreign bank accounts of dozens of top officials have been frozen.
What else can be done to pressure Zimbabwe’s autocratic ruler? Not much, diplomats and analysts say. The West is avoiding broad sanctions that could hurt already economically distressed Zimbabweans, and there is no sentiment in Africa or elsewhere to use military power.
“We have worked closely with many in the international community to try to bring pressure on the government in Zimbabwe to change its ways. That has not had much effect,” a State Department spokesman, Sean McCormack, said.
The opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, made an impassioned plea this week for the international community to persuade Mr. Mugabe to step down, even as Zimbabwe’s electoral officials delayed releasing results of the March 29 presidential election.
