NYT
April 1, 2008
Op-Ed Contributor
Make Peace With Mugabe
By HEIDI HOLLAND
Johannesburg

WHILE Zimbabwe’s opposition party is claiming victory in its effort to
unseat President Robert G. Mugabe, it would be a mistake to count him
out. And if Mr. Mugabe prevails, it would be a mistake to continue to
isolate him, as Western governments have done for the last decade.

Mr. Mugabe is bad, but he could get worse.

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“My granny was a heathen,” Mr. Mugabe muttered from behind his big
wooden desk at his office in Harare, the capital. It was not the sort
of comment I had expected to hear from the 84-year-old dictator, but
during our 2 ½-hour interview late last year, some of my assumptions
about the most enigmatic figure in modern Africa were crumbling.