A former State Department official said on Tuesday the United States could not continue to be a passive bystander on Zimbabwe as it was already too late to have free and fair elections in the southern African country.
In his testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs, Todd Moss, said the United States should become more active and creative on Zimbabwe policy than has been the case for the past four years.
“If we hope to help shape events in that part of the world, we cannot continue to be passive bystanders. Neither can a superpower that believes in democracy wash its hands of a country just because the options are all challenging.
“Instead we should actively engage with our allies, with Zimbabwe’s neighbours, and, when appropriate, with Zimbabwe’s political and civic leaders.
“Zimbabwe does not want to remain a pariah state, a fact that we should leverage. This means working in a nuanced and resourceful manner to find opportunities to increase political and economic freedom for Zimbabweans by working with others that share our goals and, when necessary, deploying the full capabilities of the US Government, including and beyond the State Department.”
Moss, who was Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of African Affairs at the US Department of State from May 2007 to October 2008, said the window for a truly competitive election reflecting the will of the people had long closed in Zimbabwe.
“The ZANU-PF machine of intimidation has been, over the past four years, methodically ensuring the outcome of the next election,” he said.
“As a result of the systematic campaign of fear and intimidation that is already in place, we should not be surprised if the actual election day passes peaceably. Thus, we should severely discount the relevance of observers that fly in a few days prior and then declare voting is calm and mostly orderly. I would be surprised if it was otherwise.”
During the period that Moss was at the State Department, the United States tried several times to get the United Nations Security Council to sanction military intervention in Zimbabwe, but the moves were blocked by China and Russia.
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