A former United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. John Campbell, has urged the country's President, Mr. Barrack Obama and his South African counterpart, Mr. Jacob Zuma to ensure that credible elections hold in Zimbabwe.
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Speaking in his latest report, the former United States envoy who is also a Ralph Bunche Senior Fellow for Africa Policy Studies, said that to forestall a repeat of the 2008 scenario by which Mugabe held on to office, the Obama and Zuma administrations together should insist to the Mugabe regime that Zimbabwe elections be free, fair, and credible.
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John Campbell pressed further that the Obama administration should encourage Zuma and South African Development Commission to blanket the country with election observers as part of that effort, adding that it should encourage participation by American election observers.
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He continued that the US administration should ask Zuma to mobilize SADC support for American election monitoring in the face of inevitable ZANU-PF objections, noting that if ZANU-PF resorts to postelection violence, the United States and South Africa should discourage another power-sharing arrangement.
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“Instead, the United States should urge Zuma and SADC to impose targeted sanctions on the ZANU-PF elites, including barring their travel to South Africa where many of them have houses, receive medical care, and shop for luxury goods. U.S. sanctions should go at least as far as those of SADC.
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In advance of the elections, the United States should encourage Zuma to lead SADC contingency planning for a police action in Zimbabwe to curb postelection violence” he pointed.
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His words: “Even if Zuma rebuffs, the Obama administration should insist on free and fair elections in Zimbabwe, impose a stricter sanctions regime if necessary on the Mugabe clique, and acknowledge SADC's lead role on southern Africa security”
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“However, the United States should decline to endorse power-sharing as the means to buy off ZANU-PF violence, as SADC did in the past. The U.S. approach to Zimbabwe need not be closely coordinated with South Africa's, though it might largely parallel it.
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What a rebuff would lose is the opportunity to build a closer bilateral relationship by working together on an issue where the United States and South Africa have parallel interests. The Obama administration should quietly make that point to Zuma in Washington and Pretoria”
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“Washington should burn no bridges. Beyond Zimbabwe, the United States needs closer ties with South Africa in the face of crises in eastern Congo, Rwanda, Sudan and South Sudan, Somalia, and the Horn. South Africa is now the only African country with the clout to partner with the United States on such African strategic issues”
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Ambassador John Campbell also said that that in the past, Nigeria played that role, saying “But Abuja is currently facing multiple domestic crises, and President Goodluck Jonathan cannot be as diplomatically active as former president Olusegun Obasanjo.
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South Africa is the only realistic alternative to fill that void. There will be other opportunities to strengthen the ties between the United States and South Africa after the ANC convention, whether Zuma stays or goes”
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“White House and State Department public statements should affirm U.S. support for SADC's approach and publicly praise South African leadership whenever there is an opportunity to do so. At the same time, the United States should regularly and publicly reiterate its support for constitutional and democratic processes in Zimbabwe”
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“Washington and Pretoria should work together to solidify SADC support for a democratic transition. Already, there are strong ambassadors in both cities to facilitate a dialogue between the Obama and Zuma administrations on specific steps. South African president Jacob Zuma's incentives should be strong to move in concert with the United States on Zimbabwe”
