Kurt Bassuener August 19th, 2008

Today Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa died in a French hospital, having suffered a stroke at the AU summit in Sharm el-Sheikh at the end of June.  The BBC reports:

He came to prominence recently for being one of the African leaders most critical of the violence in Zimbabwe.

US President George W Bush expressed his condolences to Mr Mwanawasa’s family, describing him as “a champion of democracy in his own country and throughout Africa”.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Mr Mwanawasa’s death was “a great loss for the African continent”.

Last year, he quite obviously alluded to Zimbabwe when he said:

“one Sadc country has sunk into such economic difficulties that it may be likened to a sinking Titanic whose passengers are jumping out in a bid to save their lives…Zambia has so far been an advocate of quiet diplomacy and continues to believe in it, but the twist of events in the troubled country necessitates the adoption of a new approach.”

Mwanawasa became increasingly vocal in his criticism of the Mugabe regime through Zimbabwe’s electoral crisis, urging African leaders not to allow a ship laden with Chinese arms for Zimbabwe to disgorge its cargo, stating he sympathized with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai for not wanting to participate in a runoff after an organized campaign of violence aginst MDC supporters and those suspected of having voted for them.  It was widely expected that he would lead the charge to address Zimbabwe at the AU summit earlier this summer, but he suffered a stroke at the venue and never recovered.  The summit, attended by a “re-elected” Mugabe, accomplished nothing other than giving him a stage to strut on, along with probable ICC indictee Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.

Mwanawasa’s democratic performance could hardly be called exemplary; Freedom House rates the country as “partly free.”  While donors and trading partners admire the anticorruption efforts and improved economic performance, civil liberties and political rights are abridged.  It’s likely that if Zimbabwe had imploded less dramatically, Mwanawasa’s criticisms would have been more muted. 

Yet he did step up, and was audible in a growing, if inconsistent, chorus of African voices at least recognizing the catastrophe next door.  Botswana’s leadership, which has been the most consistent in criticism of Mugabe and in democratic practice at home, will feel all the more alone after Mwanawasa’s passing.

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