“Mugabe and the ‘John Paul’ option”

Robert Mugabe is the African Slobodan Milosevic. He embodies the worst aspects of the Cold War and the “war against tyranny”. Like Milosevic, who switched from communism to fascism after the Cold War, Mugabe switched from being a revolutionary to being a tribal dictator. The big difference is that Milosevic is in prison and Mugabe is not.
Zimbabwe’s dictator could give lessons to Milosevic and Vladimir Putin about electoral fraud. He falsified the results of the last three elections in only five years. During the most recent ones, he prohibited the entrance of foreign reporters into his country, he banned demonstrations under penalties of 20 years in prison and, as the government controls the distribution of food, whoever opposes him may face starvation. But it is no longer only priests who oppose his government. For that reason, Archbishop Pius Ncube became the target. Ncube had said that the elections had been manipulated and they were.
The presence of Mugabe in power is a challenge for the pro-democracy doctrine of George W. Bush. At the moment, he cites his struggle against racism and colonialism to avoid international criticism. Likewise, he can count on the support of South African Thabo Mbeki who, living in the shadow of Nelson Mandela, does not want to confront someone who continues to be considered one of the “freedom fighters” of the 20th century. Anyway, any international sanction would be useless without South Africa.
What to do? Although the death of John Paul II overshadowed the elections in Zimbabwe, there is, however, a “John Paul” option: an African Pope would facilitate putting pressure over African dictatorships. An African Pope could serve as inspiration to Africa like John Paul was for Eastern Europe. It would be a first step to put Mugabe in prison.