“African leaders have approved a contentious decision to denounce the International Criminal Court and refuse to extradite Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir.

The final decision by the African Union heads of state summit says AU members “shall not cooperate … in the arrest and transfer of the President of Sudan to the ICC.”

How now brown cow? (And yes, that is a joking quip regarding the racism claims made against me)

Thank you. I can assure you there is absolutely no diluted racial inclination in my nickname- it’s an ironic assertion against the portrayal of non-Muslims in the Qu’ran as the spawn of apes and swine.

In the same way there is absolutely no racial posturing in my previous comments either. Lawrence is simply demonstrating the same tired hash response in the face of seeing criticism of an African leader- “it must be because of racism”

I wonder if he’s worked for the Mbeki administration?

“You’re allowed an opinion but don’t rewrite our history for us. Gukurahundi was a result of dissident activity in Matabeleland.”

And? Is that supposed to be a refutation or justification or something? It’s ironic that you can excuse mass murder in the name of defence against “dissident activity”- sounding a lot like those dreaded colonialists, maybe?

“Why didn’t you mention that Pres. Mugabe recieved a knighthood in 1995? How ironical that a man once labelled the best statesman in Africa has all of a sudden become a tyrant.”

Yes, and Joseph Stalin was well known to be an intelligent and amicable person. That doesn’t mean he “became” a tyrant one day- he always was one; regardless of how we was lavished by the Western powers.

“If you are aware of any credible charges of murder then you should drag the so call autocratic thugs before a court of law.”

Yeah, right. And you’re the one railing against the egregious and interfering Westerners who have no right to meddle in sovereign African affairs. Just who exactly do you propose does such a thing? The present Zimbabwean regime? Heh.

@

Nonetheless, I do certainly agree with you that the west should accept the irreversible change in Zimbabwe. But so should ZANU PF-supporters, with an evolutionary change that would always she the departure of one Robert Mugabe. And I am certainly in agreement with the double-standard-display by many of the “Former slave masters and colonialists”, as you put it. But what meaning does sovereignty have when it is used to describe a state that not only starves its citizens but also kills democracy?

Why didn’t you mention that Pres. Mugabe recieved a knighthood in 1995? How ironical that a man once labelled the best statesman in Africa has all of a sudden become a tyrant.

If you are aware of any credible charges of murder then you should drag the so call autocratic thugs before a court of law.

How sickening that you preach good government by day yet by night you charge, try and even sentence an elected head of state by your crooked fingers!!!

Your racial remark has a lot to say about you. Rhodesia is dead!!!

And no election since those before 1990 have ever been found free or fair by independent observers- the previous are egregious to say the least.

And as for “President Mugabe remaining he popular choice of the people”- what utter nonsense. There were wide-scale protests and strikes against the government from the 1990’s onwards. By the end of that decad Mugabe and his ilk had sealed the doomed fate of Zimbabwe- long before a single sanction was ever passed against his regime.

Mugabe and his cronies are mass-murdering autocratic thugs. They have been since they came into power. No amount of historical revisionist whitewashing can change that.

Historically ZANU (PF) is a liberation movement which advocated for black majority rule, one man one vote and a democratic transition in Zimbabwe. In short they brought democracy to Zimbabwe. In 1980 ZANU (then) won 80% of the vote to gain the majority stake in the bicameral parliament and government whose philosophy of reconciliation was admirable the world over. Elections were held in 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000 and HE President Mugabe remained the popular choice of the people.

The later elections of 2002, 2005, and 2008 were tainted as being not free and fair depending under whose eyes they were scrutinised. The Western influence in Zimbabwe has always been dodgy as it cannot go without any interest or strings attached. Therefore your point on charging ZANU (PF) “elites” for Human Rights violations is a controversial issue and may present crises in points of law for several reasons. Firstly, isn’t it ironic that when ZANU (PF) won the vote after defeating a 100 year old brutal racist regime supported by the West (mostly successive UK governments) in a bush war Ian Smith and his goons were forgiven and let off lightly to put it simple. It’s quite a paradox that now Africans like you seek retributive justice for democratically elected ZPF cadres. Isn’t that vengeance for the bush war defeat?

The land issue cannot go untouched but as you may be aware even the Prime Minister Tsvangirayi reaffirmed that the redistribution that was made by the previous ZANU (PF) majority government is irreversible no matter how “chaotic” it may have been. At the end of the day it’s our land even if we decide to grow grass only on it.

The US government passed legislation code named the Zimbabwe Democratic and Economic Recovery Act (2001) in order to “clean Zimbabwe white”. In other words this scorched earth policy would see the closure of all credit lines, including BOP support, investment and trade that labelled President Mugabe and his senior team on the same lines as terrorists. For the record Nelson Mandela only recently came off this terrorist list in 2008. The effect of these sanctions complemented by the “targeted sanctions” employed by the European Union (EU) cannot be underestimated. They succeeded in transforming the bread basket of Africa to an empty begging bowl the function whose was to ensure that a puppet MDC government enters into power.

Unfortunately or fortunately the West successfully demonised the person of Pres. Robert Mugabe on all fronts but they were oblivious of the fact that Mugabe was not one person but an entity in itself. There are millions Mugabeists in Zimbabwe and across the world and in 2008 the West made an about turn and pointed fingers at the “Securocrats” or Joint Operations Command (JOC) consisting of military, policy and intelligence echelon as the impetus behind the man. Well actually not. Although it is arguable that President Mugabe adopted an authoritative style of leadership, there is more evidence of a consultative approach. Zimbabwe has a written constitution which is rooted in the fundamental democratic principles i.e. separation of powers, supremacy of parliament and the rule of law. Of course in a conflict situation the opposition must undermine these principles and show otherwise in order to win the propaganda war.

It is imperative that the US and other Western powers remove these unwarranted sanctions as they have caused more harm than good to ordinary people in Zimbabwe. When ZIDERA 2001 was passed by the US Congress, Senator Cynthia McKinney (ph) of Georgia questioned it’s motive and criticised it for being repressive and contradicted the values of democracy as it was formed basically to fund the opposition MDC’s operations in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe was in 2000 the second longest stable democracy in Africa. She said there were many political parties and in 2000 elections were held in which the MDC won 50 seats in parliament with an opposition press which criticises the government. She said, “When we get right down to it, this legislation is nothing more than a formal declaration of United States complicity in a program to maintain white-skin privilege. We can call it an “incentives” bill, but that does not change its essential “sanctions” nature. It is racist and against the interests of the masses of Zimbabweans. In the long-run the Zimbabwe Democracy Act will work against the United States having a mutually beneficial relationship with Africa.”

Obviously ZIDERA and other targeted sanctions failed to effect regime change in Zimbabwe because they know that the opposition was disorganised, fragile and did not have the tact to effect change alone. Let alone the only reasonable option short of civil war that ZANU (PF) would have won was an all inclusive government which the MDC rightfully acquiesced to.

As it stands the Western governments have reneged on earlier promises to support the MDC once change occurred. This is the closest to power the MDC has been and the West are not in full support of the new government as they view it as an imperfect agreement. In short their ego is bigger than anything rational solution they have on offer. Day and night they plot and divide and rule the system in Zimbabwe.

The Prime Minister’s recent visit to Western countries for re-engagement with the international community and efforts to raise the $8bn needed to resuscitate the economy was met with mixed fortunes. He had shortcomings in raising the much needed aid from his friends in high places and therefore he was shunned in the face and only given paltry sums that would only be channelled through aid agencies that run as fronts for regime change i.e. USAID and the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID). He succeeded in meeting the charismatic President Barry Obama, the unelected trouble ridden Gordon Brown et al. This appears to have been in his personal capacity as the MDC President as opposed to Prime Minister as he could not stand up for his ZANU (PF) counterparts (notably Hon. Walter Muzembi - Minister of Tourism) who were denied access to the White House. The PM was also snubbed by some of his supporters at his address in Southwark (London) where he called for people to return home when his own children are at Her Majesty’s pleasure and in comfort in Australia. Once again the PM has shown that he lacks the foresight and intellect expected of a statesman.

In conclusion the way forward is for the West to accept that things are irreversible (in terms of the Inclusive Government), to treat all parties in Zimbabwe as equals and to remove sanctions in good faith. Former slave masters and colonialists should not show double standards by preaching democracy in other countries when their past is still clouded in a host of controversy. They should let bygones be bygones (to quote President Mugabe) and truly work in the best interests of the people of Zimbabwe.