The specifics of that inquiry and of other steps toward accountability cannot be set until after a credible, legitimate political transition is under way. A clear break with the present is almost impossible. Zimbabwe's electoral commission has confirmed that the opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, won control of parliament. But the MDC may not be able to ignore Mr. Mugabe and his party, ZANU-PF. A peaceful transition will necessarily involve talks with the army and security agencies. ZANU-PF will not disappear from the scene.
During that political transition, reconciling Zimbabwean society with itself will require a series of coordinated steps. A society may document the wrongdoings of the past, as a truth commission might seek to do, and also punish the worst abusers of human rights, as its judicial system might do. But if it did not prevent abuses from reoccurring, it would not have secured justice.
Experience elsewhere - during political transitions in other parts of Africa as well as in Latin America and Eastern Europe - shows that securing justice will require several measures. Zimbabwe should consider the following:
* A truth-seeking process to help Zimbabweans understand the past.
* A judicial process to hold accountable those responsible for the most serious human rights violations.
* A reparations program and equitable land reform for the victims of government campaigns that confiscated land and forcibly displaced urban dwellers, as well as for the victims of colonial-era land policies.
* Constitutional and legal reforms, to ensure these abuses will not be repeated.
Most Zimbabweans understandably want the chance to live a decent life. Their immediate concerns are with food shortages, the destruction of the economy and, since ZANU-PF's defeat at the polls, the growing violence in both the countryside and major cities.
There will be dangers, though, in granting too much deference to immediate solutions and not paying attention to democratic values. Such a strategy, by not securing justice, creates conditions for later injustices. Zimbabweans need the support of the region and the continent as they prepare for a transition that can bring justice, stability and peace.
Suliman Baldo is Africa director of the International Center for Transitional Justice, a human rights organization. Comfort Ero is deputy director of ICTJ's Africa program and head of its Cape Town office.
