HARARE - Diplomats in Harare have scoffed at beleaguered President Robert Mugabe's (pictured) threats on Saturday to sue European countries and the US government for illegally seeking to oust his regime, warning that if anything, it was the veteran leader himself who was moments away from an indictment by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Mugabe said he would revoke the reconciliation policy and seek trial for what he called illegal attempts by Western countries to use their economic muscle to force his ouster.
Eighty-five-year-old Mugabe was addressing thousands of people at the National Heroes Acre in Harare where a former freedom fighter, Misheck Takedza Chando, was being buried. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and members of his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party did not attend the state burial. MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said his party was absent because the conferment of hero status was still done by Zanu (PF)s supreme decision-making body, the Politburo. Mugabe claimed the US and European countries had rejected the hand of reconciliation he extended to them, and was now determined to fight them in court.
Angered by MDC withdrawal
Mugabe was apparently angered by unprecedented moves by MDC which, a fortnight ago, cut off all communication with him for wilfully flouting a power-sharing agreement, the constitution and gross misconduct in the unity government. The veteran Zimbabwean leader accused the Western countries of continuing to seek ways to topple him, and install a government of their choice in exchange for helping the country, which is emerging from deep political and economic crisis.
Mugabe told mourners that Chando, whose nom de guere was Comrade Makusha, fought fearlessly for Zimbabwe to obtain the sovereignty that is now under threat from Western nations. “We have not fought them,” Mugabe said. “And indeed, one day, we should think of fighting them in international courts. But if we do not recognise the fullness of our sovereignty, its completeness and its total significance and we allow ourselves to come under the direction of the neo-colonialists, neo-imperialists as (Kwame) Nkrumah used to call them and their directions, or directives, then we are to blame.
“If we rely on outsiders to give us direction, even where we invite them to invest here or to help us we will be inviting them to recognise that we are a country in a situation which demands friendship, friendship and the right that countries relate to each other on the basis of friendship or friendly cooperation. And that is what we want to see,” Mugabe said in a speech peppered with belligerent rhetoric. He accused Western countries of pursuing a slave and master relationship with Zimbabwe. Western diplomats in Harare said they found Mugabe’s assertions “shocking” and said if anything, it was the veteran leaders who was “moments away from an ICC (International Criminal Court) indictment for violence and intimidation in Zimbabwe.”
Onus on Mugabe
A senior Western diplomat said the onus was on Mugabe to resolve the current crisis by swiftly implementing the GPA and the reform agenda. “His belligerent rhetoric is out of sync with efforts we are making to rebuild ties with his administration,” said the diplomat, adding that any remaining African support for the 85-year-old leader seemed to be falling away as he tore to pieces the GPA he agreed to implement. Another diplomat insisted that it was Mugabe who should be dragged to court.
But any attempt to bring Mugabe before the ICC in The Hague faces considerable obstacles. The court has charged 11 Africans – two from Sudan, four from Uganda, one from the Central African Republic and four from the Democratic Republic of Congo – but it has no jurisdiction over Zimbabwe. The matter would have to be referred to the court by the 15-nation UN Security Council, which is so split that it is considered a long shot.
Post published in: News