The voting public are a fickle lot. A month ago Zimbabwe's presidential elections came so close they had to go several recounts. Polled again this week the people apparently came out 85% in favour of Robert Mugabe. Obviously, they just needed to have a think about it.
Now that he's been sworn in he can jet off to Egypt to take part in an African Union meeting. Either he can't have read Martin Meredith's "The State Of Africa", which demonstrates that since independence most of Africa's leaders have shown marked reluctance to let go of power no matter what the electorate might say, and have tended to be at the greatest risk of being deposed when they made the mistake of going overseas on business.
Persuasion is no longer a valid option. It's to be hoped that some of his fellow African leaders have the decency to use the occasion to at least shame him.
Colonial rule would probably seem quite attractive to some of the unfortunate citizens of these countries.
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The topic of Mugabe came up on an RTE radio programme yesterday morning and when asked how he could be removed,goverment minister Mary O’Rourke said that "somebody should shoot him"! It seemed like a bit of a "did I just say that or think it" moment!
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