Mugabe may be forced out by his own henchmen

From The New York Times:

HARARE, Zimbabwe — The opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai is in talks with advisers to President Robert G. Mugabe of Zimbabwe, amid signs that some of those close to Mr. Mugabe may encourage him to resign, a Western diplomatic source and a prominent Zimbabwe political analyst said Tuesday. The negotiations about a possible transfer of power away from Mr. Mugabe began after he apparently concluded that a runoff election would be demeaning, a diplomat said.

A resignation by Mr. Mugabe, one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders, would be a stunning turnabout in a country where he has been accused of consistently manipulating election results to maintain his lock on power.

There is no guarantee the negotiations will succeed, and the situation could still deteriorate. But a Western diplomat and a political analyst said the opposition was negotiating with Zimbabwe’s military, central intelligence organization and prisons chief.

“The chiefs of staff are talking to Morgan and are trying to put into place transitional structures,” said John Makumbe, a political analyst and insider in local politics who has spoken in the past in favor of the opposition.

“The chiefs of staff are not split; they are loyally at Mugabe’s side,” Mr. Makumbe said. “But they are not negotiating for Mr. Mugabe. They are negotiating for themselves. They are negotiating about reprisals and recriminations and blah blah blah. They are doing it for their own security.”

A spokesman for Mr. Tsvangirai, George Sibotshiwe, said, “I don’t know anything about such meetings.”

The diplomat said the joint chiefs had entered the negotiations after receiving feelers from Mr. Tsvangirai. The Western diplomat then said the leaders of the armed forces advised Mr. Mugabe on Monday to engineer a second-round runoff in the presidential race, but Mr. Mugabe responded that a runoff would be a humiliation to him.

In other words the rats understand that the ship is sinking and are trying to cut a deal which doesn't involve them standing in front of a firing squad.

Rhodesia used to be the breadbasket of Africa and now it is starving. That things would turn out this way was the easily predictable result of deposing the old white/European government and handing power over to a ZANLA, a communist insurgency which was being supported by the Soviet Union and Red China.

However the world community, led by the UN, could not bear the sight of an African nation being led by a minority white government. What made the Rhodesia situation so galling to the Western world with its white guilt and its fanatical dedication to the toxic fantasy of multiculturalism was the high standard of living of all Rhodesians, black and white, when compared to the black led nations which surrounded it.

This living and breathing refutation of their childish faith in majority rule in nations whose population had no historical or cultural preparation for self-rule in the context of a modern free and prosperous state had to be crushed at any price.

And the people of Rhodesia, black and white, have been paying that price ever since.