Obama Wants ‘Fresh Approach’ to Undermining Mugabe

Zimbabwe Opposition Reportedly Agrees on Power-Sharing Deal

With an eye toward finding yet more nations in which to intervene, President Barack Obama is reportedly seeking a “fresh approach” to the goal of driving Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe from office.

The fresh approach seems anything but: aides say the strategy will be to take Zimbabwe to the United Nations Security Council to pass a series of strong sanctions against them, including a ban on foreign investment. The United States has taken similar steps against Iran, pre-invasion Iraq, and a myriad of other nations it has decided to undermine.

Though the Mugabe regime has been in power for nearly 30 years, the latest impetus for the US to force them from office came in June, when Mugabe won a very dubious run-off election over rival Morgan Tsvangirai. The two parties have engaged in power sharing talks in recent days: the opposition has sent conflicting messages on the results. Officially today the party has both confirmed a power-sharing deal and said it was far away from agreeing to the terms.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.