African Union's credibility can be rebuilt in Zimbabwe

The African Union last week condemned a new military assault by Sudanese government troops on rebels in the strife-torn region of Darfur, where more than 1 million people have been displaced. The condemnation was ignored by the government. Why? Because the African Union has shown itself to be a toothless tiger.
Its meager peacekeeping force of 833 in Darfur, an area the size of France, is a joke -- and a bad one at that. The AU decided to do something about the growing humanitarian disaster in the Sudan only after pressure from the international community, led by the United States. By then, the fighting between the Arab-African government and non-Arab African rebel groups, which began in February 2003, had claimed more than 70,000 lives and had turned 1.5 million people into refugees.
The union is hosting peace talks in Nigeria aimed at finding a political solution. It has said that a peacekeeping mission of 3,320 troops will be in place by early January. It will cost $220 million, which will be paid for by the international community. But long-time observers of post-independent African are skeptical that the AU has the ability to bring peace to the Sudan.
Rwanda
The AU's failures as an organization, whose stated goal is to improve the lives of Africans, are plain to see. From Rwanda, to the Democratic Republic of Congo, to Sierra Leone, to Nigeria, to Ethiopia and Eritrea, and most significantly to Zimbabwe, death and economic destruction are the rule rather the exception.
The reluctance of the union to condemn the iron-fisted governance of dictators throughout Africa has become the clarion call of growing numbers of people in the western world who see the continent as a lost cause. In the United States, the demand for a reassessment of foreign aid is becoming more intense.
Indeed, a column by conservative columnist Cal Thomas that appeared on the opinion page of Sunday's Vindicator should be required reading for African Union delegates. Thomas' arguments can be regularly heard on Capitol Hill, where Republicans control Congress.
How can the African Union restore its credibility? By embracing a report on the political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe presented by the International Bar Association. It accuses Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe of conducting a reign of terror and demands that he be brought to justice.
The association said there is staggering and well-documented evidence that Mugabe's government has committed murder, rape, abduction and enslavement.
And the IBA, which has a membership of 16,000 lawyers and 190 bar associations and law societies from every continent, accuses African nations of propping up Mugabe's government to deflect criticism of their own human rights records.
Starvation
In September, we warned that thousands of Zimbabweans faced starvation because the government's purchase of maize (corn) was expected to amount to barely half of the country's yearly requirement. We urged the international community to step in and save the people from certain death and continued suffering brought on by Mugabe's brutal rule since the time Zimbabwe gained independence from Britain in 1980.
Political and human rights are non-existent, and the once wealthy nation has been reduced to a state of ruin, desolation and isolation.
The African Union can no longer turn a blind eye to what is going on in Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe must be brought to justice and made to answer for his crimes against humanity.