San Francisco/New York - South African President Thabo
Mbeki, who has already provoked controversy with comments over the
weekend that Zimbabwe was not in crisis, faces even more criticism
Wednesday in New York - this time of an airborne variety.
The Internet advocacy group Avaaz.org, aiming to raise
international pressure for democracy in Zimbabwe, plans to sail a
300-square-metre message from the back of a plane proclaiming: 'Mbeki
It's Time To Act: Democracy For Zimbabwe.'
The group says it has chartered a plane to fly the message over
the United Nations building in New York as Mbeki chairs a
presidential level Security Council meeting on Africa.
Avaaz, which calls itself 'the world's largest international
online advocacy network,' has so far collected 130,000 signatures on
a petition calling on Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe to respect the
will of the people.
More than two weeks after presidential elections, Zimbabwe's
electoral commission has refused to make public the results. Yet it
has called for a recount of the results. The opposition says it has
won the elections - an assessment shared by independent observers and
non-governmental organizations.
Mbeki, under pressure for years in the international community
over his refusal to criticize the deteriorating economic and human
rights situation in neighbouring Zimbabwe, over the weekend said
Zimbabwe was not in 'crisis'.
He made the comments as 14 African nations met trying to resolve
the standoff over the March 29 elections.
'Global public opinion is loud and clear,' Ricken Patel,
executive director of Avaaz, said. 'Thabo Mbeki's credibility as a
global and regional leader is on the line.'
Patel said that Mbeki was in danger of 'betraying the principles
of the worldwide movement that helped bring democracy to his own
country.'
The petition was launched last week and has already collected
signatures from people in 219 countries including 50 of the 54
African states, said campaign director Ben Wikler.
'It's very successful and there's a lot of interest from around
the world,' he said.
Wikler acknowledged that the numbers don't come close to the 1.6
million signatures the group collected in support of
democracy in Tibet.
'It's going viral as friends send the petition via email. But with
Tibet there was a huge established organization and celebrities
working on the issue for years so it was like a spark lighting a
tinderbox on fire,' he said.
South Africa chairs the UN Security Council at present, and had
not included Zimbabwe on its agenda of talks for Wednesday, which it
wanted to focus on the role of African Union troops in peacekeeping
on the continent.
But UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said Tuesday he would add it
to the agenda.
USA
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