Generals and democracy do not and should not mix. Yet, many fractious, diverse and struggling developing countries often mistakenly insist on ‘strong’ leadership – more often than not meaning a military man - ostensibly to hold these nations together. In many African countries, generals are often given power or take power through coups – although, thankfully, such methods are no longer the order of the day. Leaders are often generous to the generals, because they are such a potential source of instability. In these instances large amounts of scarce resources are spent on military toys, rather than on bread.

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The Question: What was the biggest news story in your country last year [in 2007], and why?

Jacob Zuma’s astonishing comeback to win the presidency of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress against the incumbent President Thabo Mbeki ranks as South Africa’s most earth-shattering political event since 1994, when the country turned to democracy.

Zuma is now set to be the ANC’s presidential candidate in the country’s general elections that will take place in 2009. Since the ruling party has no significant opposition, he may then become the country’s next president. Although the country is unlikely to collapse into chaos, Zuma’s election means that post-apartheid South Africa is unexpectedly entering an unsettling, uncertain and turbulent phase. South Africa’s fragile new democratic institutions be tested to the limits. Beyond that, delivering services to the very poor ANC members who voted for Zuma may be undermined by the political uncertainty that his elevation to the top job has and will continue to generate within the ANC and outside of it. Meanwhile, the biggest economic boom South Africa has experienced since 1981 may now drift even further away from poorer citizens, for whom those benefits are still a distant dream.

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Outside intervention now remains perhaps the only solution to save Zimbabwe from imploding.

The country’s strongman, Robert Mugabe, refuses to accept the outcome of the March 29 elections, which were held to simultaneously elect presidential, parliamentary and local representatives.

The main opposition, the Movement for Democratic Change, won the parliamentary elections -- whose results have been released -- decisively.

The as-yet unreleased presidential vote results show that the opposition won -- a result that independent monitors confirm. The MDC has declared itself the victor. Yet, Zanu-PF has delayed releasing the presidential results to sort out “errors and miscalculations”. And Mugabe has ordered the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to stop releasing further election results, and for good measure told the police to arrest senior electoral officials.

It appears that Mugabe wants to reverse the presidential result from a loss into a narrow, less-than-50% win -- which would require a second run-off for the opposition. The MDC has asked for help from the United Nations and the rest of the world. It will be shameful if their calls are ignored.

International intervention in Zimbabwe, were it to occur, would not be an Iraq-like regime change. The Zimbabwean people are asking the world for help. So far, Zimbabwe’s African countries have scandalously done nothing – by doing so, they only propped up Mugabe, and throw the long-suffering Zimbabwean people under the proverbial bus.

African leaders say they are worried about outside intervention and say neighbors should sort things out. Yet, for African leaders, "sorting things out locally" invariably means cushioning the local tyrant instead of helping the long-suffering people.

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