Standing up to Mugabe

GOOD FOR Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Great Britain. Brown (and six other heads of government in Europe) refused to attend this month's European Union-Africa Summit in Lisbon because President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe was scheduled to be there. Merkel (along with the leaders of Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands) condemned the extent to which Mugabe had despoiled his country and preyed upon its people. What he had done, Merkel told Mugabe, was "completely unacceptable."

At last - after at least a decade of mayhem and impoverishment - Mugabe's tyranny is being criticized openly and the tyrant himself is being shunned by key Europeans. Recently the United States added relatives, children, and grandchildren of Mugabe and his key associates to a tightened visa and travel ban. Britain and the United States have added controls over money transfers by the same group of corrupt Zimbabweans.

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