[dehai-news] (AxisofLogic)Crying Wolf: Who?s to Blame for Zimbabwe?s Tragedy?


New Message Reply About this list Date view Thread view Subject view Author view

From: wolda002@umn.edu
Date: Thu Jul 31 2008 - 00:11:26 EDT


Crying Wolf: Who?s to Blame for Zimbabwe?s Tragedy?
By Ghali Hassan

The British and U.S. governments have condemned and demonised the
Zimbabwean government of President Robert Mugabe. They imposed economic
sanctions on Zimbabwe, and claim to be committed to democracy, human rights
and ending the suffering of the Zimbabwean people. Aren?t they crying wolf?

A brief history is instructive. During the British colonisation of Zimbabwe
(1898-1979), thousands of Zimbabweans were rounded-up and sent to
?reservations? and concentration camps or forced to labour as slaves in
mines and plantations. The British-installed law prevented Zimbabweans from
owing and cultivating arable land because most useable farmland reserved
for white (settlers) farmers. British savagery was designed to terrorise
the population and destroy black farmers. For decades, white settlers who
made up less than 1 per cent of Zimbabwe?s population of 12 million people
but controlled 70 per cent of the country's arable land reaps the benefits
of British-imposed horrors of an apartheid system in Rhodesia, today?s
Zimbabwe.

After independence, the Mugabe?s Government embarked on a program of land
reform aimed at redistributing land to black Zimbabweans. Britain under
Margaret Thatcher agreed to compensate (?its kith and kin?) white farmers,
but in 1997 the British government (under the war criminal Tony Blair)
reneged on its promises to provide compensations. The main aim is to
destabilise Zimbabwe and incite Zimbabweans against each other. In
addition, Britain and the U.S. ordered the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) to cut off aid to Zimbabwe and began a campaign of economic sanctions
and anti-Mugabe propaganda. This deliberate destabilising campaign
accompanied by funding the Western-oriented and manipulated opposition led
by the opportunist Morgan Tsvangirai in a bid to remove the elected
Mugabe?s Government from power. With the help of inherently racist British
media, led by the BBC propaganda, Zimbabwe is unfairly depicted as a pariah
state led b a ?dictator?.

Perhaps the greatest misconception about Mugabe is that he is some sort of
a dictator. While Mugabe is not a saint, and the 2008 elections were
questionable, Zimbabwe was and still is an example of free and fair
democracy in Africa. Mugabe is simply thumbing his nose at the British and
telling the West, that Zimbabwe is for Zimbabweans and you should stop
meddling in the internal affairs of Zimbabwe.

It is important to acknowledge that after decolonisation, Zimbabwe
achievements were unique among African nations. Zimbabwe health care
services and education were ranked high among developing nations. There has
been massive growth in the provision of education. In 2005, adult literacy
was estimated at 92 percent (the highest in Africa, with 95 percent for
males and 89 percent for female), up from only 39 percent in 1962. The
British-U.S. sponsored economic sanctions and interference in Zimbabwe
internal affairs, directed at undermining and weakening Zimbabwe, are
causing hardship to most Zimbabweans.

The West?s clich頯f ?defending? human rights and spreading ?democracy? is
an imperialist fraud aimed at manipulating public opinion and justifying
aggression against weaker, defenceless nations. From Asia and the Middle
East to Latin America and Africa, the West?s best friends are the world?s
worst dictators, or U.S. ?friendly dictators?.

Among the worst of these brutal dictators has been President Teodoro Obiang
of Equatorial Guinea. The oil-rich West African nation is just one example
of many repressive regimes in Africa, including Chad, Djibouti, Egypt,
Ethiopia, Gabon, Kenya, Morocco, Rwanda, Senegal, Swaziland and Uganda that
receive U.S. militarised aid. According to Ken Silverstein of Harper?s
magazine, Zimbabwe looks like Sweden by comparison with Equatorial Guinea.
Yet, Zimbabwe is demonised and considered an enemy of the West. In May
2008?s rigged elections, when Obiang?s party won 99 per cent of the vote,
not a single Western media outlet had the honesty and courage to report the
fraudulent results and were accepted as democratic. Obiang came to power in
1979 after he toppled and executed his uncle in a military coup d'鴡t.
Francisco Macias Nguema was a monster who murdered as many as 50,000
Equatorial Guineans (10 % of the population) during his long rule. Obiang
is not very different from his uncle. He was his uncle defence minister. In
Silverstein?s words, Obiang is ?a killer. He is a murderer. He is a
torturer and a crook. And he is a thief?, who siphoned off hundreds of
millions of dollars from the people of Equatorial Guinea into his family
U.S. bank account. Obiang is the ?worst dictator in Africa?, added
Silverstein. (For more on EG see: Ken Silverstein, U.S. Oil Politics in the
?Kuwait of Africa?, The Nation, April 22, 2002). And because he doesn?t
trust his own people, Obiang relays on Moroccan mercenaries to provide for
his internal security.

As President Robert Mugabe is deliberately demonised in the West,
particularly in Britain and the U.S., Obiang is welcomed by Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice as a ?good friend? of the U.S. And the abysmal human
rights record in Equatorial Guinea and the crimes committed by the dictator
and his cronies have received little media attention in the West. Despite
the wealth generated by oil, nearly half of all Equatorial Guinea children
under five are malnourished and live in miserable condition without potable
water or electricity. According to the CIA World Factbook, Equatorial
Guinea is ?ruled by ruthless leaders which have badly mismanaged the
economy?. But because of oil, the ?poster child of undemocratic practices?
is considered one of America?s most valuable allies in Africa today.

Meanwhile, to divert world public attention from the ongoing genocide in
Iraq, the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague has decided to
pursue (bogus) charges against President Omar Hassan al-Basher of Sudan.
The charges brought by prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo are part of a campaign
to bully and demonise Developing World leaders, who refused to bend to
Western-imperialist dictates. The aim is designed to incite more violence
and bloodshed. It is a deliberate attack on the current peace negotiations
for a lasting peaceful settlement in Sudan.

Since the 2003 illegal invasion, the U.S. and Britain are directly
responsible for the killing of more than 1.3 million innocent Iraqis,
mostly women and children. Hundreds of Iraqis, including women and
children, are imprisoned and tortured in U.S.-run prisons throughout Iraq.
According to UNHCR estimates, at least 5 million Iraqis were displaced. Of
these, at least 2.8 million Iraqis are internally displaced persons (IDPs)
faced worsening living conditions. More than 2 million Iraqis have fled the
violence to neighbouring countries.

Moreover, it is revealed recently that the U.S. State Department, in
collaboration with UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) are planning to
relocate Palestinian refugees from Iraq to Sudan. If Sudan is one of the
most violent places on earth ? as the ICC alleges ?, why relocate
Palestinian refugees from Iraq to Sudan? In other words, if Sudan is not
safe for Sudanese, why it is safe for Palestinian refugees fleeing Iraq
under U.S. military Occupation?

As I write these lines, Iraqis are being killed, displaced, imprisoned and
tortured on a daily basis. Would prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo consider bringing
criminal charges against Bush, Cheney, Tony Blair and their accomplices for
waging a systematic campaign of genocide, war crimes ? including murder,
rape and torture ?, and crimes against humanity in Iraq? Overwhelming
evidence shows that they have deliberately misled the world and
masterminded an illegal war of aggression and mass murder against the Iraqi
people, and so they should be persecuted for war crimes and crimes against
humanity.

It is important to remember that the ICC was never in a position to indict
the Israeli war criminal, Ariel Sharon even after the Israeli Kahan
Commission found him "personally responsible" for the massacre of 2000
innocent Palestinian civilians at Sabra and Chatila refugee camps in
Lebanon in 1982. To this day, Sharon remains unindicted criminal. But
Sharon is not the only criminal the ICC has turned blind eye to his war
crimes, many Israeli war criminals are criss-crossing Europe without fear
of persecution.

It is evident that the ICC is a politically motivated tool promoting
Western imperialism. From its inception, the ICC has been engaged in
corrupt criminal justice system, including the illegal persecution of
former President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milo?ovic.
No one should be surprised if the ICC decides to bring charges against
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.

Finally, years of economic sanctions and Western interference in Zimbabwe?s
internal affairs have degraded Zimbabwean economy and destroyed people?s
lives. The shortage of oil and electricity supply, and the inability of
Zimbabwe to import raw materials and spare parts decimated Zimbabwean
industrial and agricultural productions. In November 1998, the IMF imposed
unpublicised sanctions against Zimbabwe, by warning off potential
investors, freezing desperately needed loans to Zimbabwe and refusing to
negotiate Zimbabwe?s debt. A year later, in September 1999, the IMF
suspended its support for economic adjustment and reform in Zimbabwe. And
in October 1999, the International Development Association (IDS), a
multilateral development bank, suspended all structural adjustment loans
and credits to Zimbabwe; in May 2000 it suspended all other forms of new
lending leaving Zimbabwe desperate for needed funds. (For more on Zimbabwe
see: Gregory Elich, Strange liberators: Militarism, Mayhem, and the Pursuit
of Profit. Llumina Press, 2006).

Faced with these difficulties and challenges, the people of Zimbabwe have
to reconcile their differences and continue the independent path to build a
prosperous and democratic Zimbabwe for all Zimbabweans. Their struggle to
defend their independence and democratic rights is an imperative of
international solidarity.

Zimbabwe?s tragedy is a Western-created tragedy. Western leaders who
pretend to be committed to democracy, human rights and ending the suffering
of the Zimbabwean people are crying wolf. If the U.S., Britain and their
allies are as committed to democracy, human rights, the roles of
international law and civilised norms as they claim to be, then they should
first end their murderous Occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ghali Hassan is an independent writer living in Australia.

? Copyright 2008 by AxisofLogic.com

         ----[This List to be used for Eritrea Related News Only]----


New Message Reply About this list Date view Thread view Subject view Author view

webmaster
© Copyright DEHAI-Eritrea OnLine, 1993-2008
All rights reserved