Little pressure on Mugabe to change his ways

Calls for mediation
Annan and other eminent Africans should go to Zimbabwe to mediate before the situation gets out of control, said Makumbe, the Zimbabwe professor.

Makumbe also suggested Tsvangirai marshal his supporters to "agitate in a peaceful but robust manner" for release of the election results. But the opposition fears protests are just what Mugabe is looking for — an excuse to turn security forces loose to terrorize his foes.

Tsvangirai took another approach, flying to South Africa to meet Monday with Jacob Zuma, the political leader who humiliated Mbeki by defeating him in an election to lead the governing African National Congress.

Zuma never was sympathetic to Mugabe and, until he became ANC president, openly criticized Mbeki's stance on Zimbabwe. Neither party would discuss their talks, but Zuma and the ANC are close to the Congress of South African Trade Unions, which supports Tsvangirai, a former labor leader.

Western nations limit pressure
Western nations have limited their pressure on Mugabe to targeted sanctions on the Zimbabwean leader and about 130 of his allies, banning their travel and freezing their overseas bank accounts. Humanitarian aid, with the EU the biggest donor, continues to flow, but is channeled through aid groups rather than the government.

Tsvangirai has called for the West to expand the sanctions to include more people in Zimbabwe's leadership.

Last year, Australia refused to allow children of those targeted to be educated in the country. A couple dozen Zimbabwean students were forced to leave, including the sons of Emmerson Mnangagwa, the security minister.

The expelled students, however, found places in European schools. They shunned the University of Zimbabwe, where academic standards have collapsed under a shortage of books and lecturers, and water outages have forced authorities to install portable toilets, now filthy.

Known for his sartorial elegance, Mugabe used to love shopping at the exclusive tailors along London's Savile Row and in the swank Harrods department store. Today, his suits are made locally at a shop called Liberty Tailors.

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