Tag: Zimbabwe

Who Better to Represent the African Union than Robert Mugabe?

The BBC is reporting that the African Union has named Zimbabwe strongman Robert Mugabe as its ambassador to southern Africa. According to the BBC,

Correspondents say his job involves promoting the ideals of the AU and raising funds for AU projects.

Mr Mugabe says his nomination shows Africa’s “admiration for Zimbabwe”.

What it shows is that the rhetoric among the African Union about promoting democracy and stemming corruption on that continent is simply the latest round of hot air from political leaders in that region.

Speaking of the situation in Liberia when Bush was visiting Africa last week, Thabo Mbeki said that African nations needed to do more of the heavy lifting in that continent. Instead, he and his fellow AU leaders are simply maintaining the status quo of making Africa safe for dictators and tyrants.

Zimbabwe opposition spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi characterized Mugabe’s selection as a betrayal of Zimbabwe and rightly characterized the AU as a “union of dictatorships.” Conveniently, the BBC reports that in addition to giving this post to Mugabe,

The Zimbabwe crisis was removed from the agenda of the AU summit.

And Mbeki and other African leaders wonder why Western nations are increasingly turning a deaf ear to that continent’s demands for economic assistance.

Source:

Mugabe African post condemned. The BBC, July 14, 2003.

Interpol Honors Mugabe’s Police Chief

In mid-May the Daily Telegraph (London) carried a story that really illustrated just how tolerant multilateral international institutions are of even the most brutal of thugs. The item concerned British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw condemning an honor bestowed upon Zimbabwe’s police chief, Augustin Chihuri.

Chihuri is one of the members of Zimbabwe’s political elite who is theoretically barred from travelling to Europe. But it came out in early May that Interpol had offered Chihuri an honorary title as vice-president of Interpol.

Straw sent a letter saying, in part,

I believe that the decision to reward Chihuri in this way was wrong. Had we been asked we would have said so.

It is an insult to the people who have suffered at the hands of the Zimbabwean police and other state security apparatus in that country.

At the end of May, Chihuri announced he would resign his honorary title.

Of course even more disturbing is that Chihuri has worked for the last six years on Interpol’s Executive Committee.

For its part, Interpol says it is completely a political and that, “Article 3 of the Interpol constitution forbids it from becoming involved in any activities of a political nature.”

So apparently the human rights abuse and other crimes being carried out in Zimbabwe are simply just another political dispute.

Source:

Straw condemns Interpol honour for Mugabe’s police chief. Daily Telegraph (London), May 11, 2003.

Zimbabwe police commissioner resigns honorary Interpol title. Press Release, Interpol, May 30, 2003.

Documentary, Human Rights Reports Chronicle Zimbabwe’s Use of Rape Against Dissidents

The United Nations Regional Information Networks recently carried a report about the premier of “In A Dark Time,” a documentary about groups affiliated with Zimbabwe’s corrupt government using rape as a weapon against dissidents in that country.

For example, the film includes a 16-year-old girl describing how a pro-government militia seize her and her siblings and then raped her as a punishment for her mother’s support of Zimbabwe’s main opposition party.

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Crisis Group, and Physicians for Human Rights have all documented the ongoing systematic use of rape in Zimbabwe over the past several years. A 2002 Amnesty International report warned of “mounting reports of rape and sexual torture by the [pro-government] militia . . .”

UNRIN reports that studies of the use of torture and other illegal tactics by the government of Zimbabwe and its supporters have found that 40 percent of those subjected to such attacks have been women, who are frequently stripped naked and beaten. Beginning in the summer of 2001, pro-government supporters began using rape and other means of sexual torture with increasing frequency against female supporters of the opposition.

According to UNRIN, the pro-government militias are also illegally kidnapping women and forcing them into concubinage. The young women are forced to perform various domestic duties for the soldiers as well as have sex with them.

All of this, of course, is a direct violation of the Geneva Convention and other international treaties. Ironically, the documentary about these abuses was premiered in South Africa. South AFrica’s Thabo Mbeki has been a leading proponent of a policy of constructive engagement toward Zimbabwe, and has called, for example, for the readmission of Zimbabwe to the Commonwealth after its membership was suspended due to rising levels of political violence (Mbeki has also restored to calling critics of his appeasement policy “white supremacists”).

Source:

Focus on rape as a political weapon. UN Integrated Regional Information Networks, April 8, 2003.

Finally, Some Honesty out of Mugabe

The Daily Telegraph reports on a rare instance of Zimbabwe strongman Robert Mugabe actually telling the truth. Here’s how Mugabe chose to describe himself at the recent state funeral of one of his cabinet ministers,

I am still the Hitler of the time. This Hitler has only one objective, justice for his own people, sovereignty for his people, recognition of the independence of his people, and their right to their resources.

If that is Hitler, then let me be a Hitler tenfold. Ten times, that is what we stand for.

For once, Mugabe is absolutely right. He’s even using Nazi-style tactics, deploying elite units of his army openly to assassinate and sexually assault key members of the opposition party according to the London Daily Telegraph.

One other thing Mugabe shares with Hitler — thanks to spineless multilateralism by the usual suspects, he and others in his government are free to move as they want across Europe. Ah, the fresh smell of appeasement.

Source:

‘Hitler’ Mugabe launches revenge terror attacks. Peta Thornycroft, Daily Telegraph, March 26, 2003.

Finally Some Honesty Out of Mugabe

Henry Hanks links to a story in which it turns out Zimbabwe strongman Robert Mugabe is capable of telling the truth. Here’s how Mugabe chose to describe himself at the recent state funeral of one of his cabinet ministers,

I am still the Hitler of the time. This Hitler has only one objective, justice for his own people, sovereignty for his people, recognition of the independence of his people, and their right to their resources.

If that is Hitler, then let me be a Hitler tenfold. Ten times, that is what we stand for.

For once, Mugabe is absolutely right. He’s even using Nazi-style tactics, deploying elite units of his army openly to assassinate and sexually assault key members of the opposition party according to the London Daily Telegraph.

One other thing Mugabe shares with Hitler — thanks to spineless multilateralism by the usual suspects, he and others in his government are free to move as they want across Europe. Ah, the fresh smell of appeasement.

Source:

‘Hitler’ Mugabe launches revenge terror attacks. Peta Thornycroft, Daily Telegraph, March 26, 2003.

Food Shortages Abate — Except In Zimbabwe

The World Food Program reports that food shortages are coming to an end in Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia, but such problems continue to worsen in Zimbabwe.

James Morris, head of the World Food Program, told The New York Times,

A serious humanitarian disaster has been averted. Food has been put in place over the last several months in such a way that mass starvation and death has not occurred. We’re seeing significant progress in Malawi and Zambia. We don’t have that same optimism in Zimbabwe.

In Zimbabwe, the WFP’s estimate of the numbers of people facing food shortages jumped to 7.2 million in December, up from 6.7 million in August.

Source:

African food shortages ending everywhere except in Zimbabwe. Rachel L. Swarns, The New York Times, January 31, 2003.