Madman Mugabe's got to go

The long and tortuous political career of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe provides a perfect example of 19th Century British historian Lord Acton's famous observation, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

When the white minority regime of Zimbabwe, then known as Rhodesia, transitioned to majority rule in 1980, a Mugabe-led socialist government was elected. The new president was perceived as his country's George Washington. And for years, that's how he ruled.

The white minority largely cooperated in integrating the long-oppressed black majority into the nation's booming economy. The landlocked nation became the breadbasket of the region, exporting food products to its neighbors.

Though there had always been underlying tensions between Mugabe and his political foes, matters turned seriously sour in 2000 when squatters seized farmland owned by whites and two years later Mugabe ordered all white commercial farmers to leave their land without compensation.

That was the beginning of the end of Zimbabwe's prosperity. The new owners lacked the expertise to cultivate their land. Zimbabwe plunged into chaos, and Mugabe's response, in true Marxist fashion, was to come down hard on all his critics -- white and black.

For several years now he's been ruling with an iron hand -- fixing elections, killing and imprisoning his rivals and letting his country slide into economic chaos. With inflation running at a mind-bending rate of 230 million percent, Zimbabwe's currency is worthless.

Today Zimbabweans are starving and riddled with disease, including cholera which has killed 575 people and infected at least 12,700 more. Untreated, cholera is deadly. But the disease is easily cured when caught in time and is altogether preventable by simply making sure people drink from clean water.

In less than 10 years, Zimbabwe has gone from being one of Africa's most prosperous nations to perhaps the most poverty stricken. The tragic transformation staggers the mind, yet strongman Mugabe still hangs onto power. He blames not himself, but Europe, the United States and other nations that have tried to help by sending his country money, medicine and food -- all of which gets swallowed up by the corrupt regime before it ever reaches the people in need.

Indeed, there's no sense in sending any more aid at all -- not until Mugabe's gone. Neighboring African nations, especially South Africa, could force him out, but so far they have refused to do so, presumably because they don't want to set a precedent that someday could be turned on them.

But until African nations do take action, matters will only get worse -- for them as well as for Zimbabwe. The economic, nutritional and health catastrophe Mugabe is inflicting on his own people could soon spread to their countries, to which Zimbabweans are fleeing by the thousands.

The Kenyan and Liberian governments have already called for Mugabe's ouster -- by force if necessary-- and their calls were recently echoed by Desmond Tutu, South Africa's most distinguished cleric and peace activist. There are compassionate, conscientious and popular black leaders available to take over the reins of power in Zimbabwe, but without outside help they can do nothing.

It will be up to the African nations, with help from the West, to bring about democratic change in Zimbabwe. It can't happen too soon; thousands of lives depend on it.