Can anything be done about Zimbabwe?

After months of debate and violence following disputed elections, Robert Mugabe is clutching onto power in Zimbabwe while the world watches and waits for action.

Mugabe's name will be on the only candidate on the ballot in elections held on Friday. That's because his chief rival has pulled out of the race amid questions of intimidation and violence.

Mugabe's actions have compelled former South African leader Nelson Mandela to speak on the issue. Mandela, speaking at a ceremony to mark his 90th birthday in London earlier this week, said, "We watch with sadness the continuing tragedy in Darfur. Nearer to home we have seen the outbreak of violence against fellow Africans in our own country and the tragic failure of leadership in our neighboring Zimbabwe."

Mandela's remark come on the heels of several calls from the international community for the presidential elections in Zimbabwe to be called off. An influential leadership body in the area, The Southern African Development Community (SADC) said, "Conditions did not permit a free and fair election on Friday."

In a move to curb the violence, unlawful arrests and killing of members and supporters of his political party, the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew from the elections earlier this week, leaving Mugabe as the only candidate on the ballot.

The BBC has confirmed that "Friday's vote will go ahead because Mr Tsvangirai's withdrawal came too late to prevent his name appearing on the ballot paper and was therefore invalid." Media sources and other observers in Zimbabwe have hinted that "a lot of governments in neighboring countries have already agreed that the election will not be a free and fair process if it's conducted as planned," according to the BBC.

Tsvangirai has been calling for "foreign help to end the crisis" and appealed for the African Union and Zimbabwe's neighboring states to intervene to resolve the situation. "I am asking the AU [African Union] and Sadc to lead an expanded initiative supported by the UN to manage what I will call a transitional process," he said at a news conference in Harare. Mugabe has said his government was open to negotiations with "anyone" but only after the elections, the BBC noted.

Asked whether the final round of the presidential vote would be postponed, the parliamentary chief-whip for Zanu-PF, the country's main political party, said to the BBC: "There is no chance of that. There is no reason."
 
Major General Engelbert Rugeje, army chief of staff, told a rally that his soldiers would force members of the public to go vote for Mugabe, observers said.

"We are soldiers who do not ask for things, but force things," Rugeje reportedly said. "On Friday, we are going to make sure that you go and vote not for a person of your choice, but Mugabe."