[Marxism] ANC leader calls for election mission to Zimbabwe

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/22/zimbabwe.china

Zuma calls for election mission to Zimbabwe

The president of South Africa's ruling ANC, Jacob Zuma, today described 
the delay in the announcement of Zimbabwe's election result as 
unacceptable, his strongest comments to date on the crisis.

Speaking ahead of tomorrow's visit to London to meet Gordon Brown, Zuma 
told Reuters that Africa should send a mission to Zimbabwe to end the 
delay in publishing results from the March 29 election.

"It's not acceptable," he said. "I don't think the constitution says: 
'If you like, you can hold the results'," said Zuma. "The electoral 
commission must issue the results because it is actually destroying its 
own credibility as an institution that is supposed to be neutral."

His forthright comments will distance him further from South African 
president Thabo Mbeki, who has called for "quiet diplomacy" and been 
criticised for playing down the gravity of the crisis. Zuma called on 
other African leaders to "unlock this logjam".

"Concretely this means African countries should identify some people to 
go in there, probably talk to both parties, call them and ask them what 
the problem is, as well as the electoral commission," he said.

Zuma toppled Mbeki as head of the ANC in December and he suggested that 
his political rival's mediation efforts needed a boost.

"When I say leaders should go [to Zimbabwe], I'm saying that we are 
fully aware that Mbeki is the mediator," Zuma said.

"But ... what I'm saying when I say other leaders should come, is that 
... given the gravity of the situation, we should add other leaders to 
assist what Mbeki is doing in Zimbabwe."

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says its leader, 
Morgan Tsvangirai, won the poll and the party's candidates a majority in 
the Zanu-PF dominated parliament. A partial recount of the parliamentary 
vote in 23 constituencies is being carried out, which the MDC has 
denounced as illegal.

Meanwhile, a shipment of arms headed for Zimbabwe may be recalled to 
China, Beijing's foreign ministry said today.

The South African Transport and Allied Workers Union refused to handle 
the weapons because of concerns that Robert Mugabe's government might 
use them against opponents in Zimbabwe's post-election stalemate.

The freighter left South Africa after a judge on Friday barred the arms 
from passing through the country and Mozambique authorities stopped it 
from docking over the weekend.

Zambia's president, Levy Mwanawasa, yesterday urged other countries in 
the region to bar the An Yue Jiang from entering their waters.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman, Jiang Yu, defended the shipment 
as "perfectly normal" but said it may be heading back because of its 
failure to unload.

She said the contract for the cargo was signed last year and was 
"unrelated to recent developments".

A spokesman for the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) 
said it believed the ship was "en route to Angola at reduced speed to 
conserve fuel" and could take days to reach Luanda.

"We just want the government to grant that they are not going to transit 
the arms, they'll refuel with an understanding that the ship returns to 
China," he told guardian.co.uk.

Yesterday, the director of the Institute of Angolan ports told Luanda 
Radio: "This ship has not sought a request to enter Angolan territorial 
waters and it's not authorised to enter Angolan ports."

But the ITS spokesman said the ship was in "real danger" because of the 
lack of fuel and so it should be allowed to dock without unloading its 
cargo.

US intelligence agencies are tracking the vessel and American diplomats 
have been instructed to press authorities in at least four nations — 
South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia and Angola — not to allow it to dock.

Two officials, speaking anonymously, said diplomatic efforts were now 
concentrated on Namibia and Angola, who were being told that allowing 
the An Yue Jiang to dock could harm their relations with the US.

The state department's top Africa official, Jendayi Frazer, plans to 
visit the region this week to underline US concerns about the shipment 
and the failure to publish results from the March 29 presidential elections.



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