TIME FOR UN ACTION

by RAY FLEMING
THERE was some surprise last week that UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon found time to announce that “schedule difficulties” would make it impossible for him to attend the opening of the Beijing Olympics, but had nothing to say about the electoral crisis in Zimbabwe. However, silence does not necessarily mean inaction at the United Nations and it is quite possible that the Security Council will meet this week to consider how and when the UN's good offices could most effectively be brought into play in Zimbabwe. By chance South Africa currently holds the presidency of the Council and therefore Thabo Mbeki is in a good position to decide what action would be in Southern Africa's best interests. And, probably by design rather than chance, Gordon Brown will also be in New York next week; it is thought that Britain is ready to table or strongly support a resolution on Zimbabwe if there is sufficient agreement on it round the table. Although the outcome of yesterday's emergency meeting of the Southern African Development Community is not to hand at the time of writing it may well be that a new element is required to break the Zimbabwean deadlock. Since unilateral action by any Western country would be counter-productive, the United Nations is the obvious solution, especially since it will inevitably be involved in the huge programme of humanitarian and infrastructual aid that will be necessary once Zimbabwe returns to some semblance of normality.