Took A While

Now the US decides it can't accept the power-sharing agreement in Zimbabwe, or any government with Robert Mugabe at the helm. Mind you, the power-sharing agreement was put together several months ago.

Jendayi Frazer, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs, made the announcement in South Africa after spending the last several days explaining the U.S. shift to regional leaders. The new U.S. stance will put pressure on Zimbabwe's neighbors -- South Africa in particular -- to abandon Mugabe. But South Africa said its position was unchanged.

The U.S., Frazer said, has become convinced Mugabe is incapable of sharing power.

She cited political moves he has made since September without consulting the opposition, reports his regime has continued to harass and arrest opposition and human rights activists, and the continued deterioration of Zimbabwe's humanitarian and economic situation. Particularly worrying, she said, was the rapid spread of cholera, an easily treatable and preventable disease that has killed at least 1,000 Zimbabweans since August [...]

Frazer cited accusations from the Mugabe regime that the West waged biological warfare to deliberately start the cholera epidemic as an indication Mugabe is ''a man who's lost it, who's losing his mind, who's out of touch with reality.''

If Mugabe's neighbors were to unite and ''go to Mugabe and tell him to go, I do think he would go,'' she said.

It's just so late for this kind of change of heart. When Mugabe was threatening to kill his opposition back in June, that would have been a decent time to speak out. When he was plotting to rig the election, that could have been a moment to say no. Maybe before Zimbabwe had to print the 10 quintillion-dollar note, that could have been a good time. For months if not years it has been obvious that Mugabe was running his country aground, murdering and imprisoning dissenters and leaving many of his countrymen to die. At any point, the US could have shifted policy and pushed Mugabe's neighbors to expel him. Now? Well, he's not likely to listen, if he ever was.

President Robert Mugabe has said that "Zimbabwe is mine" and rejected calls from some African leaders to step down.

"I will never, never, never surrender," he told delegates of his ruling Zanu-PF party at its annual conference.

Mr Mugabe also said he had sent a letter to the country's main opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, inviting him to be sworn in as prime minister.

Earlier, Mr Tsvangirai said he would pull out of power-sharing talks unless abductions of his supporters stopped.

I am encouraged that the US will finally try to move African nations to cut Mugabe a deal to get him out of power. But it took far too long.