U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday called for African leaders and the U.N. Security Council to press Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe into holding free and fair elections. Asked by reporters what she hoped South African President Thabo Mbeki would tell Mugabe during a visit Wednesday to Harare, Rice said she hoped the “leaders of Africa” would deliver a “strong message.” “We're very concerned about the elections, but it's very difficult when you have the kind of intimidation going on in Zimbabwe,” the top U.S. diplomat told reporters during a meeting with visiting Prime Minister Raila Odinga of Kenya. “It is time for the leaders of Africa to say to President Mugabe that the people of Zimbabwe deserve a free and fair election, that you cannot intimidate opponents, you cannot put opponents in jail, you cannot threaten them with charges of treason and be respected in the international community,” Rice said. Rice also said she hoped to “bring some international attention” to Zimbabwe when she and her counterpart from Burkina Faso co-chair talks Thursday at the U.N. Security Council. “This is from our point of view a matter for the Security Council of the United Nations to deal with,” she said. Odinga, who survived a controversial and violent election campaign in Kenya, proposed sending an international peacekeeping force to Zimbabwe to ensure proper elections, but Rice declined to comment on the idea.
