Apartheid's awful legacy

BLUE LINES

Close

THE INSIDE VIEW

Africa keeps a strong sense of irony despite the efforts of its more crass politicians. It reached new heights in the past week of summitry in Japan, Italy and South Africa. First came Sudan’s President Omer el Beshir, who opened a conference session on ‘good governance and consolidating peace’ at the Japan-Africa summit on 29 May, a week after he sent troops to destroy Abyei in the disputed North-South border area. Field Marshal Omer’s address on the rule of law followed international calls to Khartoum to hand over two of its senior officials indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court. Then came President Mugabe’s address on 3 June extolling his policy successes to the emergency United Nations summit in Rome on the global food crisis. Four days earlier his Social Welfare Minister, Nicholas Goche, had banned the distribution of food aid in Masvingo province and other areas by Care International because it was helping the opposition. In Cape Town at the World Economic Forum on 4 June, host Klaus Schwab suggested that speakers start by discussing concerns about Africa. ‘Let’s focus on the positives,’ implored South Africa’s President Mbeki. Then Kenya’s Prime Minister Raila Odinga asked how it was that Zimbabwe’s government could delay the release of election results for four weeks while the region’s leaders stayed silent. His question was greeted with… well, regional leaders’ silence.