This is a short post on something that deserves a lot more space.
It's hard to know what's really going on in Zimbabwe - the media from my country has been banned from reporting directly from there. But the stories and images that are getting out are showing voters who voted for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) as having been badly beaten, even killed by supporters of Robert Mugabe's incumbent government.
It seems that the MDC did get most seats in the parliament and that its leader Morgan Tsvangirai got most votes in the Presidential poll. Whether it was really over the 50% threshold as the MDC claim or not quite and therefore a second ballot between Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai is necessary as Mugabe's party claims is impossible to know but it's hard not to be suspicious when:
- the results took so long to be announced, nearly three weeks after the vote;
- a ship full of ammunition ordered by the Zimbabwean authorities from China after the date of the election arrives in South Africa.
It's hard for a lot of the world outside to understand what is going on.

It's hard for me to understand - let me try to put it into perspective.Zimbabwe gained independence from Britain when I was 2 years old - as far as I and most of the younger generations of Brits are concerned we know little of the colonial era. It's a bit embarrassing, something we don't really get taught about. Perhaps we should be. But for most of us Zimbabwe, as for most of the world that was at some point part of the British Empire, is an independent country and has been for the time we've been conscious of its existence.

As far as I can understand it, Mugabe was a freedom fighter, the leader of free Zimbabwe who overthrew Ian Smith's minority government at the end of the war that took place in the 1970s.
White Zimbabweans seem to have had an unofficial agreement to stay out of politics and be left alone, but later started supporting the MDC which Mugabe then saw as another stage in his war of independence.
As the former colonial power Britain is often singled out by Mugabe as the originating cause of all problems in Zimbabwe - not paying for land redistribution costs as he demanded resulting in black war veterans seizing the farms of the white farmers. Any protests and the protesters (and then by extension anyone supporting the MDC) were condemned as the lapdogs of Britain and its western allies.

So how to resolve this situation?
It's clear that statements from the West at the UN and in the media are good for Western leaders with their domestic audiences, but that they play directly into the hands of those wishing to say that Britain and the West take a condescending, patronising colonialist attitude and are trying to but in and take over.
Again.
As if Africa can't be trusted to sort itself out.
This is really horribly far from the truth which is that many in the West really do give a damn about democracy and human rights and don't want to see countries, especially those that have embraced democracy already and where people queue to expess their democratic wishes despite the fear of reprisals because it really means something to them, imploding.

So if comments from the West are just fuel on the potential fire, who can help?
The answer has to be other African leaders. Here too there's a delicate balance. None of them want to be seen as the West's poodles either. May be some of them still want to see Mugabe for what he was, rather than what he has become.
The South African President Thabo Mbeki has not condemned Mugabe and despite the evidence denied there was a crisis. But this put him at odds with Jakob Zuma the leader of the African National Congress who did, and with the South African dock workers refused to unload this ship. This was a brave action that should be applauded internationally. But that probably won't help, if I've understood this all properly.

And it seems Morgan Tsvangirai will agree to take part in the run-off with Mugabe as long as there is a safe and secure internationally-observed competition. But how that can be ensured when the beatings are already happening is not yet clear.
And with the elections in Kenya also resulting in armed conflict we've already seen graphically this year just how horrible it can be when democracy does not bring the smooth easy transition from one government to another.
If the West speaking out doesn't help and may even just make things worse, may be we'd all better keep praying for peace and wisdom for those who can help.