UN Fails Zimbabwe Again

Once again, the UN fails Zimbabwe. UN peacekeepers are supposed to be protecting refugees from Mugabe's thugs, and yet they were no where to be found as those thugs raided a refugee camp.

The 400-strong group at Ruwa rehabilitation center sought refuge at the South African Embassy in Harare three weeks ago, and moved to the site 15 miles southeast of the city after assurances for their safety were given.

But around a dozen uniformed men, some in balaclavas, walked past a lone policeman on duty at the gate and attacked sleeping refugees.

One man who escaped said he believed scores had been hurt, and many, including women and children, had been kidnapped.

South Africa has been playing a key role for Mugabe in running interference at the UN, the African Union, and at the G8 conference. The South Africans are also trying to keep the West from imposing sanctions against Mugabe, which is the most that the West has been able to agree upon. South Africa's President Mbeki thinks that sanctions could lead to civil war, though one has to wonder what calls a situation where Mugabe has ran the opposition out of the country, displaced hundreds of thousands, killed an untold number of people, and destroyed the democracy there, if not a civil war?

The latest from those entities calls on Mugabe and the opposition to enter into a power-sharing arrangement, but we've seen time and time again that Mugabe has no interest in sharing power with anyone, least of all Tsvangirai. Why would anyone in Mugabe's government listen to Tsvangirai, including the military and the militias operating at Mugabe's behest to intimidate and threaten the opposition to the point where they've sought refuge in foreign embassies.