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Global
community must act on Zimbabwe - ICG
Stella Mapenzauswa, Reuters
June 07, 2006
http://www.zwnews.com/issuefull.cfm?ArticleID=14538
Harare - Zimbabwe
is increasingly likely to become a failed state plagued by unrest
and violence if the world community does not act to address its
deep political and economic crisis, a think-tank said on Tuesday.
The International
Crisis Group (ICG) said Zimbabwe's political tensions had left
President Robert Mugabe's government "increasingly desperate and
dangerous" with no clear plan for resolving the southern African
country's woes.
The Brussels-based
group said Zimbabwe's economic freefall, the looming end of Robert
Mugabe's presidency, and cracks in the ruling Zanu PF party and
the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), could all trigger
unrest. "Zanu PF's policies, corruption and repressive governance
are directly responsible for the severe economic slide, growing
public discontent and international isolation," ICG's southern Africa
project director Peter Kagwanja said. "And the international community
still lacks any kind of grip on the crisis," he added.
ICG said Western
governments should maintain pressure on Mugabe's government through
"targeted sanctions directed at the Zanu PF leaders who are driving
Zimbabwe to ruin".
The African
Union, it said, should use next month's summit in Gambia to call
for urgent action on Zimbabwe to protect regional stability. Critics
say Mugabe should accept responsibility for an economic meltdown
that has seen Zimbabwe's inflation top 1 000 percent and unemployment
soar above 70 percent as residents struggle with shortages of food,
fuel and power.
Mugabe insists
he is not to blame for Zimbabwe's economic problems, pointing instead
at sabotage by his domestic and Western opponents in retaliation
for his seizure of white-owned commercial farms for blacks.
"The failure
of the international community to reach a concerted position on
Zimbabwe has only escalated the suffering being inflicted on the
people and increased the likelihood of major state failure," the
ICG report said.
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