A new powersharing agreement may be approved soon in Zimbabwe. The plan gives Morgan Tsvangirai most of the control over the government as Prime Minister while allowing Robert Mugabe to serve in an honorary role. The deal includes amnesty for Mugabe, whose rule has seen numerous human rights abuses in past years, most recently in the deployment of violent intimidation to force Tsvangirai out of the last election. But the international community doesn't recognize the new government and has pressured the two leaders toward this agreement, facilitated by South African President Thabo Mbeki.
The hardest to swallow part of the agreement is the general amnesty given to Mugabe and his supporters who committed war crimes and human rights violations during his rule. It's not a great precedent to give authoritarian leaders and their lackeys a free pass on their crimes, but on the other hand it may be the only way to see peace and progress in Zimbabwe without further violence -- South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Committees being the obvious precedent. Still, the agreement is far from final, so we'll have to wait and see how the ending shakes out. This may be one of those terrible realpolitik situations that requires the placating of monsters to provide hope for the future.
--Tim Fernholz
