From the New York Times:
HARARE, Zimbabwe — President Robert Mugabe’s top lieutenants are trying to force the political opposition into granting them amnesty for their past crimes by abducting, detaining and torturing opposition officials and activists, according to senior members of Mr. Mugabe’s party.
Curtsy: Global Investment Watch and Elkins.
A relevant quote from law professor Amanda Frost: Attitudes towards nationwide injunctions also turn on one’s view of the courts…
With regards to the courts, I think we’re about to see the Supremes tell lower courts that their rulings will…
the people he picks to work in his administration are supposed to support that effort as long as they don’t…
@Ron: What do you think Trump did in his first term that was unique or made a positive impact on…
During his first term Trump walked into the White House with no experience in government, so he selected a lot…
And the floggings will continue until morale improves….
It’s the only way they know to solve problems?
Every time I hear things from Zimbabwe, I end up feeling sad. It seems like it was a very nice place not very long ago. It is like Detroit but a million times worse.
not following the Detroit analogy. is Kwame…Mugabe? Huh. I would say there are fairly different processes at work in the problems in zim vs detroit.
honestly this article didnt make much sense to me, as it makes it clear that Zanu-pf is still calling the shots. So how is it that Tsvangarai could somehow amnesty but has no power to initiate any legal action against torture or other crimes? It seems meaningless.
It makes more sense to me that they are basically just using terror and violence to push the MDC out of the ruling coalition.
and Dianne, I assume that “they” here is the Zanu-pf, right?
I just meant that both Detroit and Zimbabwe were once nice places but now have serious problems although Kwame Kilpatrick certainly fits into that too in that he’s a corrupt politician. Mugabe makes him look like a saint though.
I am reminded of another former Detroit mayor’s views on Mugabe …
This is often a problem in changes of regime — members of a brutal regime are unwilling to risk either just or unjust retribution, and would rather continue their brutality.
The ZANU-PF leadership, I suspect, thinks that in order to be pardoned for their faults, they should commit new ones, and in doing this, endeavor to have as many companions as they can; for when many are in fault, few are punished; small crimes are chastised, but great and serious ones rewarded. [Paraphrasing Machiavelli, FH III.3]
And amnesty is one of the few ways of breaking that cycle and resolving that tension. It’s not nice to think of the perpetrators getting away with their crimes, but I don’t see any other way of removing them from power. They aren’t going to leave voluntarily, and their opponents don’t have the force to push them.