At least in part at the behest of Zimbabwean Prime Minister (and longtime antagonist of President Robert Mugabe) Morgan Tsvangirai, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) met today to discuss encouraging the Western powers to end sanctions against Zim. Already the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has provided Zimbabwe a $510-million loan, its first loan to the beleaguered country in a decade.
South Africa and especially President Jacob Zuma, meanwhile, continue to push for the main parties to continue power-sharing negotiations. The prodding is especially necessary for Mugabe and his ZANU-PF, which has the most to gain from foot dragging and the most to lose if meaningful negotiations go forward. Tsvangirai and the factions of the MDC desperately want meaningful negotiation to continue.
Jacob Zuma seems to be taking his regional leadership role seriously. Part of that role is symbolic, as in Zuma’s recent trip to Umkhonto we-Sizwe’s Pango Angolan military camp in which he talked of the “blood ties” between South Africa and Angola. But Zuma’s take on his country’s role as a regional and cointinental power also represents real leadership capacity, as in the Zimbabwe situation. The only real power South Africa has in Zimbabwe is the power to persuade (and maybe mildly coerce) both the main players in Zimbabwe as well as the region’s heads of state and SADC. But Zuma appears willing to take that role seriously, not only in Zimbabwe, but across the region as well. He needs to tread lightly — power tends to breed wariness and resentment — but perhaps the Zuma years will mark a real renaissance in South Africa’s role on the continent.
A few months ago, I wrote about the early stages of the conflict in Ukraine through the lens of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. While it appears likely that the war will carry on into the foreseeable future, enough time has passed for us to make an honest assessment of each side’s relative […]
The Ukrainian Army has made dramatic strides in the last few weeks. Ukraine’s tactical commanders have outfoxed their Russian counterparts, and by issuing a feint towards the south the UA has been able to earn substantial gains in the north of their country. The impact of these efforts have been compounded by the steady stream […]
In mid-May the Irish political party, Sinn Féin, won the plurality of seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly. Many American readers might not fully understand the significance of Sinn Féin’s political victory- but rest assured that subjects of the United Kingdom and a wide range of political movements the world over have heard the message […]
The first wave of the Russian offensive in Ukraine has fallen short of Russian autocrat Vladmir Putin’s ambitions. Most analysts deduced that Putin had hoped to achieve a decapitation strike of the Ukrainian government- taking Kiev and replacing Ukrainian President Vladimir Zolinski with a pro-Kremlin voice. Kiev has been threatened repeatedly through the course of […]
On the weekend of March 26th, the notorious MS-13 gang went on a massive killing spree in El Salvador which left more than 70 people dead by Sunday. Even for a country where powerful gangs hold massive sway, this recent tragedy stands out considering that it was the bloodiest day on record since the civil […]
