Zimbabwe: Worst-Case Scenario

It has been a while since I commented on what's going on in Africa on this space, but I feel my self-imposed exile is over. It doesn't take much to realize that our leaders are mostly bigots who care for their own pockets and hides. Situations in Sudan, Guinea, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and elsewhere have taken a turn for the worse; hunger and disease still wreck havoc wherever they please; and we are still begging for more enslaving foreign aid.
Today, however, I want to put forward a worst-case scenario for Zimbabwe and its fledgling unity government. There are several things going on in Zimbabwe that we have to keep in mind; 1. The generals are wholly behind Mugabe. 2. These generals will not support an MDC-dominated government. 3 . Mugabe is only in power because he continues to protect the interests of these privileged few. 4. Mugabe and his supporters are currently under sanctions (travel and otherwise) while MDC leaders are not. 5. Mugabe's ZANU-PF agreed to the power-sharing agreement in hopes that these sanctions would be lifted- which has not happened. 6. Mugabe and his supporters deem this a sign of the West being biased against them. 7. Mugabe is old (85???) and won't be around much longer...his fellow freedom fighter comrades are being buried daily. 8. There is no clear successor among his ZANU-PF leaders.
Having said all that, what would happen if Mugabe suddenly died of a heart attack or, simply, old age? Would the generals back Tsvangirai? Would the people have enough courage to stand up and ask for him to be installed president?
I personally believe that there would be a coup, Tsvangirai (if he's in the country) and his supporters would be executed en masse, and democracy would take a step back to the Middle Ages...at least in Zimbabwe.
I believe the best option now is for the Western governments to remove their sanctions, appease Mugabe and his henchmen, and let Tsvangirai continue to help their economy. The economy wasn't hammered by Mugabe, anyways, but by those very same Western sanctions. This is the time when the African leaders should step in, shun the actions of the west (I mean, show that they really are against them by taking actual measures to show that rather than just talking about it) and strengthen the Zimbabwean economy and government.
If Mugabe dies, expect all that the West has done to be wasted effort, sanctions never really accomplish much, I can guarantee you that Mugabe and his folks are not starving, dying of cholera, or lacking in bullets to enforce their rule. Look at Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Iraq before the invasion...it's the common person that suffers, and that common person is busy scrapping for means to feed himself that he has no time to scheme the removal of the dictator you are trying to depose.

Bashir, Tsvangirai, Congo, Rwanda, and the rest of the news this past month

I have wanted to sit down and write something during the past month and I had many things that I wanted to share, but I just felt that the moment was not right to write anything yet. I decided to sit and wait, wait for events to unfold. And unfold they did. Things happened. Al Bashir, president of Sudan, was warned of a heap of evidence against him by the International Criminal Court. After the warning came the actual warrant making him a fugitive. Rwanda and Congo finished out their joint operation against the FDLR rebels operating in Congo, and Rwanda followed on its promise to return its military forces back to Rwanda. Although the FDLR rebels deny this occured and claim that thousands of Rwandan troops are still active in the jungles of Nord Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Mugabe and Tsvangirai have also seemingly come close to form a government of unity which holds out hope for improvements in Zimbabwe. Lately, however, Mrs. Tsvangirai was fatally injured in a car accident that left him hospitalized. Some are crying foul, but what does it matter? An innocent life was taken in a terrible accident, or what seemed like an accident. Our prayers go to the Tsvangirai family.
What do all these developments mean for our mother land? Is there a way to arrest Bashir and bring him to justice for the atrocities in Darfur? Did Rwanda pull all of its resources out of Congo and end its profitable proxy occupation of mineral-rich East Congo? Did Mugabe seek to take out Tsvangirai himself in the accident?

The role of "The Elders" in Africa

Recently, several members of the group so-called "The Elders" were refused entry into Zimbabwe. I, most definately, do not endorse the Mugabe regime. I, in no way, see it as beneficial to the people of Zimbabwe or the advancement of the African continent. Mugabe represents the old, dying lion who tries to hold on to power knowing that his youth and vitality have left him and younger lions know it too. He know at any moment a young lion will tear him up if he doesn't relinquish his power. However, he knows that he is finished should he be forced from the top spot. This makes him roar louder and use all tools available to him to discourage his challengers. Sooner or later, the game will be over. Unfortunately for Africans, and especially the Zimbabweans, that time is taking much longer than is necessary.
Having said that, I feel that Mugabe is much braver than many Africans. We should not be pushovers. I am not endorsing being defiant and always saying no to what western and eastern countries say or suggest to us, I am just saying that we need to bring ourselves to their level. There is still this level of master and servant when it comes to the relationships with western countries. I feel that African countries are always begging for more aid and they are willing to do whatever it is their 'masters' ask of them for it. We need to stop being beggars. We are their equal. We make their economies run. We provide for them. They need us. We need them. Mugabe has stood level with the West and they are making him more of a monster for it. He might have chose the wrong way to do so, but he, nonetheless, did it.
This week he did it again when he stopped Koffi Annan, Jimmy Carter, and Graca Machel from entering Zimbabwe to assess the situation there. Assess?????Who on earth doesn't know what's going in Zimbabwe? Zimbabwe is an economic disaster, not a warzone. The damage done is knowledgeable to anyone remotely interested in that country, let alone the so-called experts.
I am against groups, such as The Elders, who think they know what's best for everyone and they go around raising money and padding their pockets while the people they are supposed to be looking out for go on starving and dying.
Although they might not realize it, The Elders are old lions and lionesses trying to hold on to their positions while refusing to acknowledge that their time has already passed by. What such people should be doing is grooming up the next generation. They are only interested in themselves and how they can retain influences gained in their former positions. Mugabe realized this, after all they say criminals know each other, and kept them out of Zimbabwe. They have not helped any place and they have not raised their voices to stop the atrocities in Congo. I refuse to even acknowledge anyone who professes to care so much about Africa and has no clue as to what is going on in Africa's largest, oldest, and longest-running genocide. We should examine groups such as The Elders and try to find what their motives and driving motivations are. I know who they are and what they accomplished, that was a different time. Today is different, we need a new breed of leaders. We need to raise ourselves. To respect ourselves. That, not old lions and lionesses who still link us to a past we are more than ready to leave behind.