WASHINGTON — A senior US official called Wednesday for African nations to keep pressure on Zimbabwe to ensure it moves towards democracy and hailed the role of South Africa’s new President Jacob Zuma.
Johnnie Carson, the assistant secretary of state for Africa, said Zimbabwe has made “important progress,” particularly in reviving a crippled economy, since President Robert Mugabe entered a power-sharing deal in February.
Under the so-called Global Political Agreement (GPA), Zimbabwe is supposed to draft a new constitution by August next year followed by free elections in a nation led by Mugabe for nearly 30 years.
“The international community has joined us in calling for transparency in the process of drafting a new constitution and the conduct of closely monitored elections,” Carson testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
“We also call on the nations of Africa, in particular the members of the Southern African Development Community, to ensure that Mugabe and his cohorts fully implement the GPA and work toward democratic reform,” he said.
Carson said the United States was “pleased” that Zuma visited Zimbabwe in August and “stressed the importance his government places on democracy and respect for human rights in Zimbabwe and compliance with the GPA.”
Western nations had uneasy ties with South Africa’s former president Thabo Mbeki in part due to his insistence on engaging Zimbabwe rather than punishing Mugabe for purported abuses.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in August hailed a new relationship with South Africa after she visited and met with Zuma.
Additional reporting: AFP
we need more pressurer, mugabe should know that Obama’s government is not even considering lifting the targeted sanctions. He was trying to mislead the world sayin he is giving Obama time to lift the sanctions, that is nonsense Obama respects the will of the people and democracy and this is opposite of what mugabe believes in.
“The British people will decide the election, not a newspaper. I think people really want newspapers to report news and expect them to do so,” Brown told BBC television.
Does this sound familiar? yes sounds like Uncle Bob talking but its non other than his sworn enemy Gordon Brown, when Mugabe says that he is said to be dictatorial.
This is in the SUN of UK/
I look at the picture of Carson above and I see a slave who came off a ship from Africa, clothed and made to stay near the house by the slave master so that he can be periodically sent to monitor fellow slaves in the field. There is a name for people like that you know.
This Johnnie be good guy either he doesnt know **** about africans or ZIMZ..I wonder if this guy is are aware of the fact that when slavery was abolished its actaully the slave MASTER THAT GOT MILLONS INCOMPASATION for the loss of their freed slaves…
Abel, Tulmund said “we see things the way we are not the way they are”… this may mean that our own experiences and upbringing influence they way we see things. So what you saw in Carson may have a lot to do with your lens and not whom Carson is… how about that????
Why should Mugabe cooperate with people putting pressure on him? You IDIOTS have no brains.
Carson. Who would want to talk to such an idiot. Bob was right in Cairo. Just look at his face. Kanenge kakadhakwa nevheni kana tototo chaiyo pandari.
Moms you are alive?
Maybe start by deciphering that message you sent just above there.
I was brought up to be suspicious of blacks who want to look good to their white counterparts at the expense of their black brothers.