July 15, 2003

BUY FREEDOM

It’s more expensive than shooting him, but at least it gets Mugabe out of the way:

Robert Mugabe will relinquish his leadership of Zimbabwe's ruling party by December, paving the way for his exit as President and new elections by June 2004, the South African President Thabo Mbeki has told George Bush.

The Independent has established that Mr Bush has pledged a reconstruction package for Zimbabwe worth up to $10bn over an unspecified timeframe, if a new leader takes over.

Posted by Tim Blair at July 15, 2003 01:57 PM
Comments

not really more expensive; we've spent a lot more in iraq so far, and we haven't even gotten the pleasure of shooting saddam yet...

Posted by: Mr. Bingley at July 15, 2003 at 02:13 PM

Now we know why he was elected to that new post.

It was the payoff.

Posted by: Sandy P. at July 15, 2003 at 03:56 PM

But where's he going to live? If he is still in the country will he REALLY be out of power?

Posted by: Patrick at July 15, 2003 at 06:32 PM

"If he is still in the country will he REALLY be out of power?"

Good point. Send him to Nareen, where he can live with his mentor, Malcolm Fraser.

Posted by: The at July 15, 2003 at 06:43 PM

Cool. Mugabe has really stepped up the African dictator operation to a whole new level. Normally, the steps are:

1) Create a famine or war
2) Convince the UN to give you gobs of money to solve the problem.
3) Steal the money and move to the Riviera.

By adding step 4 (get other nations to _pay_ you to leave) Mugabe has outdone himself.

Yessir, this African dictator gig is better than a license to print money...

Posted by: buzz harsher at July 16, 2003 at 01:45 AM

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

Posted by: Steve-O at July 16, 2003 at 07:05 PM