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April 16th, 2008

Should Mandela speak out over Zimbabwe?

Posted by: Stephen Addison

mandela.jpgHuman rights activist Peter Tatchell is criticising Nelson Mandela for not speaking out against Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe.

Here’s what Tatchell, who has twice tried to make a citizen’s arrest on Mugabe, says on his Web site. Do you agree with him?

“Nelson Mandela should publicly urge Robert Mugabe to stand down. He has a duty to support the Zimbabwean people’s democratic will, and denounce the election fraud of the ZANU-PF dictatorship.”

“Nelson is the hero of the anti-apartheid movement, but his silence on Zimbabwe’s unfree and unfair elections is collusion with tyranny. He is betraying his fellow Africans in Zimbabwe.”

“Britain should be pressing African Union leaders, including South Africa’s President Thabo Mbeki and other top ANC officials, to call on Mugabe to retire. They should offer him a face-saving exit strategy. The Zimbabwean crisis needs an African solution.

“People around the world, including Zimbabweans, supported Nelson Mandela’s freedom struggle against apartheid. It is now time that Mandela reciprocated this solidarity by calling for the release of the election results and for Mugabe to concede that he lost the presidential poll.”