Robert Mugabe rated 4th on list of world's worst dictators

By Violet Gonda
23 January 2006

Zimbabwe has again hit international headlines and sadly all for the wrong reasons. Robert Mugabe seems to be climbing rapidly up the ladder of the world’s worst dictators. The Zimbabwean dictator who turns 82 in February has been named again as one of the top 10 world's worst dictators by US-based news magazine Parade, published on January 22 nd. Read article.

The publication, which gets distributed with every newspaper in the US, ranked Mugabe 4th in its list of dictators. Last year the magazine had ranked Mugabe 9th. The publication defined a “dictator” as a head of state who exercises arbitrary authority over the lives of his citizens and who cannot be removed from power through legal means.

The Top-10 list is headed by Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, followed by Kim Jong-Il of North Korea, Than Shwe of Burma, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. He is ahead of the presidents of Uzbekistan, China, Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan, Iran and old friend Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea, who holds onto 10 th position.

The heads of states are accused of terrorizing and abusing the rights of their own people.

Mark Ellis Executive Director of the International Bar Association has in the past called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate Mugabe who continues to commit atrocities against his own people. He said even if Mugabe retires the new government should be able to bring Mugabe to the ICC for investigations. “The message being Mr Mugabe cannot hide from crimes that he has committed, there is no statute of limitation for these types of crimes and eventually he should be brought to justice.”

Mugabe’s repressive regime has over the years successfully trampled human rights and crippled the opposition in Zimbabwe. There is no rule of law in the country and for the last 6 years elections have been a farce. There is no press freedom and freedom of expression is but a dream in Zimbabwe, with the latest assault being the confiscation of passports belonging to perceived government critics.

Last year some 700,000 people were made homeless after Mugabe sanctioned his so called “clean up exercise” Operation Murambatsvina. The United Nations described this operation a disastrous venture that affected the lives of at least 2.1 million people.

The Parade publication said, " Life in Zimbabwe has gone from bad to worse: It has the world’s highest inflation rate, 80% unemployment and an HIV/AIDS rate of more than 20%. Life expectancy has declined since 1988 from 62 to 38 years. Farming has collapsed since 2000 when Mugabe began seizing white-owned farms, giving most of them to political allies with no background in agriculture.”

Meanwhile it seems pressure is mounting from all sides against the octogenarian. The tide seems to be changing in terms of how African states view the crisis in Zimbabwe. Last month in an unprecedented move, the African Union Commission on Human and People’s Rights issued a report criticizing the regime’s appalling human rights record.

This week the African leaders meet in Khartoum Sudan for the 2 day African Union summit and observers say some of the newly elected African leaders are not going to give Mugabe such an easy ride flouting international law. One source said, “Although not much may be said publicly, the room is going to get hot for the old man.”

The irony of the AU summit is that this year it’s being held in a country where the leader Omar al-Bashir of Sudan is top of the list of the world’s worst dictators. Al Bashir is reported to have killed at least 180,000 civilians in Darfur in western Sudan and driven 2 million people from their homes. He has recently stopped burning villages in the region, although this is said to be because there are no more villages left to burn.

It’s reported that five African leaders have asked Sudan to withdraw its bid to head the AU because the appointment could sink Darfur peace talks and dent the group's credibility. Sudan has nominated itself to chair the 53-member AU, based on a tradition that the host of its summit becomes next head. Human rights groups say a Sudanese presidency would damage AU efforts to improve the continent's record on democracy and human rights.