EGYPT: The trouble with Mugabe

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe flew into the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheik nattily dressed and unapologetic, and left the same way, avoiding censure last night by the 53 nations attending the African Union summit.

Some of his peers chastised him for violently stealing the June 27 election that silenced opposition parties and won Mugabe his sixth term. But many African leaders remained publicly quiet, reacting to the 84-year-old former guerrilla the way one winces at a friend who shows up with trouble behind his smile.

Perhaps it was a desire to avoid comparison. Egypt and Libya, for example, have also been criticized repeatedly over the years for repression, torture and jailing political opposition figures. Washington has vilified Mugabe and is seeking broader U.N. sanctions against Zimbabwe. Meanwhile, the Bush administration gives about $2 billion in annual military and economic aid to the government of President Hosni Mubarak, a strategic ally in the region.

In a satirical piece today in Egypt’s independent El-Dostour newspaper, Khaled Mahmoud Ramadan wrote:

What Mugabe did was already done before by many African leaders but by different means.... Nobody could ask Mugabe to be more democratic. For example, neither the Libyan President Muamer Qaddafi who has been in power for almost forty years, nor the president of Qabon, who is considered the dean of African leaders, could do that. Nor Mubarak, the host of the summit who spent almost 27 years in power could be expected to condemn his dear friend Mugabe for only seeking to serve for another term by defying his people's will, and the international community.

The same attitudes were posted by on the website of Egypt’s El Masry El-Youm newspaper. Hossam El-Malt wrote that Africa leaders "are all similar. All of them are authoritarian, all of them hold the helm of state by force and usurp people's resources."

Another reader weighed in: "There is a Mugabe everywhere; there is one in Libya, one in Sudan, one in Algeria, one in Morocco and many Mugabes in the Gulf. Anyway, Mr. Mugabe, you are most welcome in your second country Egypt and trust me Egypt is no different from Zimbabwe."

-- Jeffrey Fleishman and Nohan El-Hennawy in Cairo

Photo: President Robert Mugabe after his reelection in June. Credit: AFP

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