Instead of calling for the withdrawal of the Order of Jamaica from Robert Mugabe, Jamaica needs to lend its support to the current initiatives of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) for the enforcement of the Global Political Agreement signed on September 15 to create an all-inclusive government representing the ZANU-PF and Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

There are two courses of action: a military and a political one. A military option would be a great disaster for the people of Zimbabwe. The reasonable option is a political one. The actions of Britain, the United States and the EU have prolonged Mugabe's political existence and done damage to the lives of millions of Zimbabweans. When Mugabe was killing the Ndebele in the mid-1980s, the West was silent. The West found its voice when white farmers were harmed.

The Jamaican Government should support SADC's call for urgent action to attend to the humanitarian crises in Zimbabwe and the large-scale crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The only reason why we are hearing far more, for far longer about Zimbabwe than about the crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo is that the United Kingdom has no kith and kin in the Congo.

Post-Mugabe era

Zimbabwe needs to move into a post-Mugabe era. I do not support Robert Mugabe's recent political actions and came out publicly against the forcible removal of thousands of Zimbabweans a few years ago in Harare. Condemnation and critique of Mugabe, I maintain, is not enough and it is immoral of The Gleaner to continue this whitewashing of a comprehensive policy of punishment of Zimbabwe led by the UK. We ought not to whitewash the role of the UK in response to the 2000-2003 takeover of some of the lands occupied by white settlers. Mugabe's big mistake when he took power was to believe that the British would abide by the terms of the Lancaster House agreement to provide compensation for a legal transfer of land.

The punishment regime by the UK and the US has been comprehensive, sustained and has done as much as the misrule of Mugabe to ruin the lives of the people of Zimbabwe. Senator Jesse Helms, an unapologetic racist, sponsored the 2001 US Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Bill.

US action has not only been about the freezing of assets of state officials and imposing travel bans on the pro-Mugabe supporters. The US blocked food aid during the period of land reform and opposed Zimbabwe's application to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS. These actions have been effective not in removing Mugabe, but have played a major role in the economic and humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe. The International Monetary Fund in 2001 removed Zimbabwe from the list of countries that could borrow from its Poverty and Growth Facility. Zimbabwe's foreign exchange reserves declined from US$830 million in 1996, which amounted to three months' import cover, to less than one month by 2006. Donor support has dried up.

Danish support

The Danish support for the health sector, US$29.7 million in 2000, was suspended, Swedish support for education was also suspended. Coupled with this, the UK and the US gave financial support to the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions and the MDC. Paradoxically, the West has therefore prolonged Mugabe's political life by its actions and frustrated South Africa's ability to negotiate a transition.

Professor Rupert Lewis is lecturer in the Department of Government, UWI, Mona.