Operation Drive Out Filth: The last straw?
I find it hard to get excited about Thabo's discussions about Zimbabwe, but this latest round of promised discussions with the MDC comes so soon after Mugabe's latest mad antics that perhaps there is something to get excited about.

The weight of international pressure is growing, with Bush having some harsh words for Zimbabwe's neighbours, and rightly so. There is a danger that this effort by Mbeki may be some last-minute window-dressing for the G8, but one hopes that it goes deeper than that. Mbeki's quiet diplomacy obviously needs revision, and as much as the Mbeki and Dlamini-Zuma call for Zimbabwe to solve its own problems, perhaps the vision of Mugabe attacking his own people is enough to dissuade them from this stance.

I don't hold much hope. With Mbeki taking so much heat from the left of his party, rubbing his Africanist allies the wrong way may be too much to ask. Let's call it hope that I'm proved wrong.