A senior official with Zimbabwe’s ruling party (ZANU-PF) announced that a run-off vote was needed to decide the country’s presidential election that originally took place on March 29.  This sparked much anger among the opposition party because the current situation proves that Mugabe has been and will continue to rely on violence and intimidation to stay in control of the country.  A spokesman for the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the main opposition party, said that they will refuse to participate in a run-off because they claim they won the first election and the results being released are rigged.  While protestors arrested last week as part of a crackdown were released, this is no indication of hope in Zimbabwe as the Human Rights Watch said that organized violence and terror against opposition supporters has intensified.

The UN Security Council had been divided in how to respond to the situation in Zimbabwe.  President Bush called on Mugabe to respect the decision of the people of Zimbabwe and accept defeat.  At a UN Security Council meeting (after turning away an MDC representative because he was not part of a government, therefore he was not allowed to join them), the U.S., Britain and France supported intervention (a U.N. special envoy and a voluntary arms embargo).  But other members, particularly South Africa, were more reluctant to intervene.  China, Russia, Libya, Burkina Faso, Costa Rica, and Vietnam also agreed that international intervention was not appropriate until Zimbabwe asked for it.  While the opposition party has been asking for intervention, it is highly unlikely Zimbabwe will because the ruling party is deeply suspicious of any US intervention.

I am also suspicious of intervention because, as history has taught us, it can be disastrous.  But it’s hard to be an onlooker in this situation.  How much more violence can Zimbabwe take?  Mugabe’s presidency has overstayed its welcome.  Because of the political intolerance that has plagued the country not just the past few months, but years, the fact that the opposition party even was able to get this close in some ways surprises me and gives me some hope, but I’m afraid that as the opposition gets stronger, Mugabe and the ruling party will get more and more desperate to hold onto control.