Mbeki's reputation takes Zimbabwe hit

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, July 15 (UPI) -- The reputation of South African President Thabo Mbeki has slipped after failing to convince Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to step down, observers say.

Mbeki, once praised by U.S. President George Bush as "the point man" on diplomatic efforts to deal with the increasingly autocratic rule of Mugabe, is now being seen as part of the problem because he's blocking Western moves to impose harsh sanctions on Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF party, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

The newspaper said Mbeki is one of the few remaining African leaders unwilling to publicly distance himself from Mugabe, who has become an international pariah by using violence and widespread intimidation to beat back a political challenge from the Movement for Democratic Change party, and Mbeki's long-standing efforts to persuade Mugabe to share power with the MDC have fallen on deaf ears.

Because of his affinity for Mugabe, Mbeki's legacy in Africa is "in tatters," Karima Brown, political editor of the South African newspaper Business Day told the Post. "Thabo Mbeki is really yesterday's man. He's done."