Reaction of bloggers to news from Zimbabwe

Opposition leader,  Morgan Tsvangirai,  has announced that he will not stand in the next round of the elections in Zimbabwe.  He does not want to ask voters to support him and so risk injury or death.  An article today on BBC News summarises reaction by bloggers to his  withdrawal. 

Now Morgan Tsvangirai has given Robert Mugabe a 24-hour deadline to negotiate or be shunned as an illegitimate leader responsible for the killing of civilians. 

So-called elections due to be held on Friday will be very far from free and fair.

Mugabe likes to blame Britain for most of the woes of his country.  The colonial past does cause problems even in the present but Mugabe needs to admit that he has failed the people of Zimbabwe as a leader. 

I read that Mugabe has been stripped of his knighthood on the advice of the Foreign Secretary.  I am not a big fan of the honours system but it is one more condemnation of the man who still calls himself the president in Zimbabwe.