Sir Ronald Sanders The writer is a business consultant and former Caribbean diplomat

In his sanctioning of wanton killings and detention of his political opponents, Mugabe has long since forgotten those words.

The joint statement went on to state: "We must remember here that it has always been, and it remains, the basic objective of the Patriotic Front to ensure that government of a genuine free Zimbabwe is based upon free and fair elections."

Now in a betrayal, not only of that pledge but of all the persons and nations that stood up for an independent Zimbabwe based on majority rule, Mugabe has rigged one election after the other and has sworn not to accept the results of an election on June 27th if it goes against him.

Atrocities

Mugabe has disappointed his most ardent supporters. He has treated with contempt those who reposed confidence in him in the face of many doubters.

And, worst of all, he has destroyed his own country and devastated his own people, thousands of whom have fled the country to neighbouring states, especially South Africa, where in recent times they have been beaten by resentful and unwelcoming South Africans.

The current atmosphere in Zimbabwe is not conducive to a free and fair election.

Eighty-six deaths have been confirmed, 2,000 people have been injured and 30,000 people displaced during the campaign.

	Alleged Zanu PF supporters beating opponents.

UN reports say four million people are in need of food aid and they are being denied help by the Mugabe regime.

The deputy leader of the opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Tendai Biti, is in police custody.

Soldiers have been ordered by their high command to vote for Mugabe or lose their jobs and villagers all over the country have been threatened with death by the army.

Ordinary people are brutally chopped to death as an example to others.

Reactions

The governments of some neighbouring African countries have now spoken out against the glaring atrocities of the Mugabe regime.

Tanzanian foreign minister, Bernard Membe, whose government is the current Chairman of the African Union, said:

"There is every sign that these elections will never be free nor fair".

His conclusion has been reached on the basis of reports from 211 election observers inside the country, some of whom had seen two people shot dead in front of them on June 17.

South Africa’s President, Thabo Mbeki, could have done much more to bring an early end to the destruction of Zimbabwe and the wanton killing, by imposing a trade embargo on Zimbabwe, closing the border between the two countries and stopping financial transactions.

Instead, he handled Mugabe with kid gloves and sought to reason with him long after Mugabe had manifestly shown that he was beyond reasoning.

Facing sanctions

The elections on June 27 are now a huge farce.

If Mugabe wins the Presidential election, no one anywhere in the world could possibly accept it as credible.

Zimbabwe’s economy, already a basket case, except for the help of China, will deteriorate even further and Zimbabweans will suffer and die even more.

Undoubtedly, the US, Canada and the European Union countries will rightly apply strict sanctions against the regime.

	Morgan Tsvangirai feared for supporters' safety at the polls

The Chinese government will have to decide whether in the face of Mugabe’s glaring atrocities it will continue to prop him up.

It would be sad for the Zimbabwean people if they took such a decision.

If, by some miracle, Morgan Tsvangiri, wins this deeply flawed Presidential election, Mugabe has sworn not to accept the result.

Calling the opposition “traitors”, he said "Should this country be taken by traitors ... It shall never happen ... We are prepared to go to war for it."

The response of the EU, US and Canada and many other countries will be the same - the isolation of the regime and sanctions.

Caribbean stance

Caribbean governments have a right and an obligation to condemn the Mugabe regime in the most vigorous terms and to send a clear message now that they will join an international effort to isolate his regime.

Caribbean persons such as Shridath 'Sonny' Ramphal, as Commonwealth Secretary-General, played a crucial role in the achievement of majority rule, and the independence of Zimbabwe.

Other Caribbean leaders, at the time, Jamaica’s Michael Manley, Guyana’s Forbes Burnham and Barbados’ Errol Barrow also played their part in overturning the Unilateral Declaration of Independence by the white, minority government of Ian Smith.

They all argued for free and fair elections based on majority rule, and an end to state sanctioned killing of people who opposed the government.

Today, Mugabe is no better than Smith.

He has spurned the efforts of more recent Caribbean leaders, most notably P J Patterson, the former Prime Minister of Jamaica, who as Chairman of a group of six Commonwealth heads of government, tried his best to persuade Mugabe to honour the path to democracy.

By the time Caribbean heads of government meet for their annual Conference in July in Antigua, the result of this farcical June 27th election will be known, and Zimbabwe will be plunged into a deeper morass of dictatorial rule and atrocities than it now is.

At that meeting, Caribbean governments should unhesitatingly join other countries in imposing the strongest measures against the Mugabe regime including intervention by the United Nations.

But even before then, Caribbean governments at the highest levels should let Mugabe know publicly that they condemn his actions and that the elections on June 27th are not credible.

Tyranny in any colour must be firmly rejected.

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