Zimbabwe appears to have reached a point of no return. Depressing as it may be, it is difficult now to see how the country can avoid slipping into a depth of chaos and attendant political violence that amounts to anything less than civil war.
There can be no doubt who has put Zimbabwe in such peril: it is President Robert Mugabe, a man who is displaying a mixture of hubris and autocracy that threatens to place his misrule on a par with the worst of Africa's post-colonial leaders. Mr Mugabe may huff and puff about "traitors" within and maleficence from Great Britain, the country's former colonial power, but the world and - more to the point - his own people know otherwise.
Yesterday, Mr Mugabe announced that elections would take place on March 9th and 10th. Simultaneously, he pressed home his determination to have parliament agree a range of repressive measures aimed at ensuring an outcome to his satisfaction. These include severe restrictions on the press and a ban on foreign election observers. To make matters worse - far worse, indeed - the head of the army, General Vitalis Zvinavashe, proclaimed his support for the existing regime in chilling terms. "We will therefore not accept, let alone support or salute, anyone with a different agenda," he said in a clear reference to Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
In the face of all this, Britain has special responsibilities. The British government's limp threat on Tuesday to seek Zimbabwe's expulsion from the Commonwealth will hardly raise an eyebrow in Harare. Worse than that, the threat by the Home Office to deport to Zimbabwe an opposition dissident member of the Liberty Party is shocking in the present circumstances. Some 20 such deportations have occurred since December and 15 other people are currently seeking asylum.
British governments have a largely honourable record of trying to do the right thing by Zimbabwe since Ian Smith's unilateral declaration of independence in 1965, a move designed to secure white dominance of the country. Today, London needs to take up the challenge once more. Tough sanctions, as suggested by the Conservative Party, are one option. More noise is another; the time for hush-hush diplomacy is well past. Encouraging President Mbeki of South Africa to be bolder is yet another device.Deporting dissidents is most certainly not the right thing to do. London should be making common cause with Mr Mugabe's opponents instead of shunting them back to a deeply uncertain future.