UN Should Intervene in Zimbabwe, Says Opposition

The South African Development Community (SADC) must make way for the United Nations to find a solution to the Zimbabwean political impasse, according to Patricia de Lille, the leader of South Africa’s opposition Independent Democrats (ID) party.

“I don’t have faith in SADC. The UN does not need the blessing of SADC to intervene in Zimbabwe,” she told the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) in a live broadcast on Friday.

She said there was a need for the UN, with the backing of the African Union, to help bring a solution to the crisis-ridden country.

“Mbeki’s role as a mediator is questionable. His statement that there is no crisis in Zimbabwe is unforgivable,” she added.

She berated the South African government’s attempts to block the issue of Zimbabwe being placed before the UN Security Council.

“The in-fighting in the ANC (African National Congress party) should not transfer to the UN,” she added, accusing Mbeki and the SADC of being an “old club” not accountable to the people it supposedly represented.

On his part, the opposition Democratic Alliance party’s foreign affairs spokesman, Tony Leon, said: “South Africa’s resistance amounts to shameful hypocrisy.

“After all, in the 70s and 80s, it was the same ANC which used the Security Council to bring pressure against apartheid South Africa, and explicitly rejected the White racist National Party’s argument that in terms of the UN charter, apartheid was a domestic concern.”

He added South Africa’s “quiet diplomacy” was nothing less than “active support for the Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe.”

Source African Press Agency

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