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锘?!DOCTYPE html PUBliC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>US Says Well Past Time for Zimbabwe's Mugabe to Step Down - VOA Standard English In 2008</title><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta content="all" name="robots"/><meta content="VOA Standard English In 2008, US Says Well Past Time for Zimbabwe's Mugabe to Step Down" name="description" /><meta content="VOA Standard English In 2008" name="keywords" /><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/images/style.css" /><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/images/text-small.css" title="Small Text" /><link rel="alternate stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/images/text-medium.css" title="Medium Text" /><link rel="alternate stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/images/text-large.css" title="Large Text" /></head><body><div><img id="logo" src="/images/voa.gif" alt="VOA" /></div><div id="nav"><a title="VOA" href="http://www.51voa.com/"><b>缇庡浗涔嬮煶</b></a> > <a href="http://www.51voa.com/VOA_Standard_English/index.html">VOA Standard English</a> > <a href="http://www.51voa.com/VOA_Standard_1.html">VOA Standard English In 2008</a> <script type="text/javascript" src="/images/notice.js"></script></div><div id="leftMainContainer"><div id="leftNav"><div class="leftN_title">VOA Standard English</div><ul><li><a href="/VOA_Standard_1.html">VOA Standard English <img src=/images/new.gif border=0></a></li> <li><a href="/VOA_Standard_1_archiver.html">VOA Standard English Archives </a></li> </ul><div class="leftN_title">VOA Special English</div><ul><li><a href="/Development_Report_1.html">Development Report</a></li><li><a href="/This_is_America_1.html">This is America</a></li><li><a href="/Agriculture_Report_1.html">Agriculture Report</a></li><li><a href="/Science_in_the_News_1.html">Science in the News</a></li><li><a href="/Health_Report_1.html">Health Report</a></li><li><a href="/Explorations_1.html">Explorations</a></li><li><a href="/Education_Report_1.html">Education Report</a></li><li><a href="/The_Making_of_a_Nation_1.html">The Making of a Nation</a></li><li><a href="/Economics_Report_1.html">Economics Report</a></li><li><a href="/American_Mosaic_1.html">American Mosaic</a></li><li><a href="/In_the_News_1.html">In the News</a></li><li><a href="/American_Stories_1.html">American Stories</a></li><li><a href="/Words_And_Their_Stories_1.html">Words And Their Stories</a></li><li><a href="/People_in_America_1.html">People in America</a></li></ul><div class="leftN_title">VOA English Learning</div><ul><li><a href="/Word_Master_1.html">Wordmaster</a></li><li><a href="/Learn_A_Word_1.html">Learn A Word</a></li><li><a href="/Bilingual_News_1.html">Bilingual News</a></li><li><a href="/American_Cafe_1.html">American Cafe</a></li><li><a href="/Popular_American_1.html">Popular American</a></li><li><a href="/Business_Etiquette_1.html">Business Etiquette</a></li><li><a href="/Sports_English_1.html">Sports English</a></li><li><a href="/Words_And_Idioms_1.html">Words And Idioms</a></li><li><a href="/Intermediate_American_English_1.html">Intermediate American English</a></li></ul></div><div id="rightContainer"><span class="title">US Says Well Past Time for Zimbabwe's Mugabe to Step Down</span><div id="contentAds"><script type="text/javascript"><!--google_ad_client = "pub-3585518775245612";/* 51VOAContent */google_ad_slot = "4281465902";google_ad_width = 336;google_ad_height = 280;//--></script><script type="text/javascript"src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"></script></div><span id="content"><EMBED src="/path.asp?url=/200812/pace_Rice_zimbabwe_05dec08.mp3" width=280 height=40 type="audio/x-pn-realaudio-plugin" autostart="false" Controls="ControlPanel" tppabs=""></EMBED><BR><a href="/path.asp?url=/200812/pace_Rice_zimbabwe_05dec08.mp3" class="wwmp3">» Download Audio</a><BR><BR><span class="byline"> By Sonja Pace</span> <br> <span class="dateline">London</span><br> <span class="datetime"><em>05 December 2008</em></span><br><p><table class="APIMAGE" style="direction: ltr;" width="210" align="right"><tbody><tr><td style=""><img id="||CPIMAGE:586215|" title="US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice speaks during a joint press conference with Danish PM Anders Fogh Rasmussen in Copenhagen, 5 Dec. 2008 " alt="US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice speaks during a joint press conference with Danish PM Anders Fogh Rasmussen in Copenhagen, 5 Dec. 2008 " src="/images/200812/AP_US_Denmark_Condoleezza_Rice_05dec08_210.jpg" vspace="2" width="210" border="0" height="174" hspace="2"></td></tr><tr><td style="" class="imagecaption">US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice speaks during a joint press conference with Danish PM Anders Fogh Rasmussen in Copenhagen, 05 Dec 2008 </td></tr></tbody></table>U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says it is past time for Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe to step down. Her call comes amid an increasing economic and now humanitarian crisis in the southern African nation.<br><br>Speaking during a visit to Denmark on Friday, Secretary Rice said President Mugabe's departure is long overdue.<br><br>"It's well past time for Robert Mugabe to leave," she said. "I think that's now obvious."<br><br>Zimbabwe has been in political turmoil for most of this year, amid election violence, an increasing crackdown against opposition politicians and supporters, flawed elections, an economic meltdown and now an outbreak of cholera.<br><br>"The fact is that there was a sham election, then there has been a sham process of power-sharing talks and, now, we are seeing not only the political and economic toll that is being taken on the people of Zimbabwe, but the humanitarian dimension as this cholera epidemic has broken out," Rice said.<br><br><table class="APIMAGE" style="direction: ltr;" width="190" align="left"><tbody><tr><td style=""><img id="||CPIMAGE:582394|" title="Cholera patients wait for treatment at Budiriro Polyclinic in Harare, 26 Nov 2008" alt="Cholera patients wait for treatment at Budiriro Polyclinic in Harare, 26 Nov 2008" src="/images/200812/AFP-Zimbabwe-cholera-patients-01Dec08-190.jpg" vspace="2" width="190" border="0" height="190" hspace="2"></td></tr><tr><td style="" class="imagecaption">Cholera patients wait for treatment at Budiriro Polyclinic in Harare, 26 Nov 2008</td></tr></tbody></table>Zimbabwe has declared a national emergency and acknowledged that its collapsing health care system is unable to cope with the outbreak of the disease. According to the World Health Organization, the epidemic has thus far claimed nearly 600 lives, and is affecting neighboring countries, as desperate Zimbabweans seek to leave the country.<br><br>On Monday, the European Union is expected to ratchet up the pressure on the Mugabe government. A draft statement, expected to be adopted by EU foreign ministers, calls for tightening sanctions further, unless progress is made on a fair power-sharing agreement. <br><br>Nobel laureate South African archbishop Desmond Tutu went further than Secretary Rice, saying, if Mr. Mugabe does not go willingly, he should be forced out of office - if need be, by the threat of indictment at The Hague for human rights violations.<br><br><table class="APIMAGE" style="direction: ltr;" width="190" align="right"><tbody><tr><td style=""><img id="||CPIMAGE:567101|" alt="Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe looks on during the opening plenary of the Southern African Development Community Extraordinary Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, 09 Nov 2008" title="Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe looks on during the opening plenary of the Southern African Development Community Extraordinary Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, 09 Nov 2008" src="/images/200812/AP-Zimbabwean-President-Robert-Mugabe-during-the-opening-plenary-of-SADC-in-Johannesburg-eng-190-9nov08.jpg" vspace="2" width="190" border="0" height="190" hspace="2"></td></tr><tr><td style="" class="imagecaption">Robert Mugabe (file)<br></td></tr></tbody></table>Robert Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe since the country's independence from Britain in 1980. Conditions in Zimbabwe deteriorated markedly this year, since the March elections in which the opposition gained control of parliament and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai won the most votes for president, but not enough to avoid a run-off. Tsvangirai pulled out of the second round of balloting because of increasing attacks against the opposition, and Mr. Mugabe claimed victory. The two sides have been in power-sharing talks, but without a successful outcome thus far. <br><br> </p> </span><div id="list"><ol><LI><A href="VOA_Standard_English_26828.html" target=_blank>Race for Ghana's Next President Tightens</A></LI><LI><A href="VOA_Standard_English_26827.html" target=_blank>European Markets End Week on Sour Note</A></LI><LI><A href="VOA_Standard_English_26826.html" target=_blank>US Expects "Difficult" Beijing Talks on North Korean Disarmament</A></LI><LI><A href="VOA_Standard_English_26825.html" target=_blank>Auto Industry Executives Renew Appeals for Emergency Loans</A></LI><LI><A href="VOA_Standard_English_26824.html" target=_blank>EU Kosovo Justice Mission to Consolidate Rule of Law</A></LI><LI><A href="VOA_Standard_English_26823.html" target=_blank>Cholera Epidemic in Zimbabwe Continues to Worsen</A></LI><LI><A href="VOA_Standard_English_26822.html" target=_blank>Pakistani, Afghan, Turkish Presidents Pledge Cooperation in Terrorism Fight</A></LI><LI><A href="VOA_Standard_English_26821.html" target=_blank>Proposed Media Law in Kenya Draws Comparison to Zimbabwe</A></LI><LI><A href="VOA_Standard_English_26815.html" target=_blank>South Africa Experiments With Houses Made of Sand</A></LI><LI><A href="VOA_Standard_English_26814.html" target=_blank>Study: India Must Educate Young Workforce to Avoid Potential Social Tensions</A></LI></ol></div><div class="clearing"></div></div><div class="clearing"></div><div id="footer">© 2001-2008 Powered by <a href="http://www.51voa.com">51VOA.Com</a> <div id="topAds"><script language=javascript src="/topAds.js"></script></div> <div id="count"><script language=javascript src="/count.js"></script></div></div></body></html>⌨️ 快捷键说明
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