A British newspaper today said it is time for the West to take stock, set aside old scores and take a fresh look at Zimbabwe. And as the prime mover in a strategy that has failed to deliver after a decade of trying, Britain should take the lead in an effort to break the deadlock and recover its influence in a country at the strategic heart of southern Africa. Unpalatable though it is, President Robert Mugabe has emerged from his country’s recent election with more than his domestic power consolidated and the opposition in disarray. He has been welcomed back into the African fold by the very leaders the West had been hoping would denounce the conduct of July’s election – Jacob Zuma, South Africa’s president, and Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria’s former president and head of the African Union group of election observers.

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Charles Rukuni

The Insider is a political and business bulletin about Zimbabwe, edited by Charles Rukuni. Founded in 1990, it was a printed 12-page subscription only newsletter until 2003 when Zimbabwe's hyper-inflation made it impossible to continue printing.

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