IN RECENT TIMES the United Nations has seemed a sclerotic bureaucracy mired in corruption and pointlessness. But now President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe has presented U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan with a golden opportunity to reestablish the reputation of the organization. Mugabe has invited Annan to visit. He should go, before it is too late. Civil war is becoming more likely, and increasingly so, as the opposition party collapses and hope of a political solution dissolves.

Mugabe’s Operation Murambatsvina, or “clean up the filth,” largely involves clearing informal settlements with bulldozers and driving out residents with the clothes on their backs and the possessions they can carry. At least 700,000 people have been made homeless and many more are affected by loss of livelihood. Refugees are further plagued by HIV and other infections.