A Pact Of Desperate Evil

It's a difficult decision. Do you agree to somehow overlook the most vengeful, hate-filled and heinous crimes against your people, with the assurance that, having made that decision to just let it be and not demand justice and accountability, the depraved assaults and murders will be halted? In so doing, do you agree to swallow your disgust at the atrocities committed by a murderous tyrant? In so doing, do you become his companion in governance?

But then this happens time and again. The world manages, somehow, to look the other way, knowing that yes, a monstrously evil man has wrought great damage in his predatory determination to remain in control of a nation, sacrificing helpless victims to his greed and ambition, but not having the means to uproot him from his aerie, placates him instead, in the hope that the dark forces within will be stilled and there will be no further victims.

And how often does that meet with success? World condemnation never arrests the determination of murderous tyrants for very long. Silence is seen as complicity. And interpreted as validation and a green light to proceed further. Did Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, Pol Pot, Kim Jong-il, Idi Amin, Mao Tse-Tung, and now Robert Mugabe really give a damn how they were regarded outside their fearful inner circle?

So it is that South Africa's Thabo Mbeki feels his diplomacy and delicacy of approach has succeeded in averting further disaster in Zimbabwe, by bringing together the obdurately evil Robert Mugabe and the determinedly unsuccessful Morgan Tsvangirai. To forgive and forget. To form a unity government. Together to govern that desperate country with its collapsed economy and miserable population.

The good news is that many now feel they have reason to believe the atrocities will come to an end, the violence abated. The refugees may return to their burnt-out villages and farms, to mourn their dead. The wounded and the tortured will learn to live without limbs, and make the most of what life they have left. Robert Mugabe's entourage, his militia, his police, may re-commence their corrupt rule.

And the African Union and the Southern African Development Community can breathe a collective relief that they can no longer be accused of sheltering a world-class criminal. Zimbabwe's neighbour-countries can be relieved of the intolerable burden placed upon them by the influx of desperate Zimbabweans fleeing the violence and turmoil, the poverty, and the endemic threat of disease.

A civil manifesto has been agreed upon and duly signed. All forms of violence will cease. Respect will be offered. The safety of the displaced will be assured. Above all, the threatened international humanitarian and social welfare organizations may return to their thankless tasks of rendering assistance. The hitherto estranged parties shall refrain from bellicose accusations and hostility.

Intolerance is a thing of the past. A miraculous re-awakening has blossomed and the spiritual, political, social desert that is Zimbabwe is set to bloom into a prosperous future. This is Africa. Dire situations can turn on the head of a pin.