Diplomats have nothing to apologize for after walk-out on Mugabe

The ZANU PF leader used the burial of his sister Sabina at the National Heroes Acre in Harare to tell western countries they could go to hell over what he claimed was their interference in deciding who should lead the country. Ambassador Ray, German ambassador Albrecht Conze and the European Union’s charge d’affaires, Barbara Plinkert, walked out in protest soon after the speech.

On Tuesday Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi said the walk out was unacceptable and he had summoned the ambassadors to demand an apology. He claimed their conduct was very disrespectful to our national heroes’ shrine, the heroine who was being honoured and his Excellency the president.

Explaining his decision Ambassador Ray says he left the ceremony because he was very disappointed in Mugabe’s conduct and had nothing to apologize for. When America is treated in the manner it was treated on Sunday, I will react, he said.

Ambassador Ray has since written to Mumbengegwi telling him, I regret that you have chosen to make matters worse by exacerbating a problem created by the Zimbabwean side, rather than attempting to put it behind us. It became clear to me during your president’s address that I was not welcome. I had to react accordingly,” he said.

German ambassador Conze was equally straightforward telling reporters he did not plan on apologizing for the incident. No. No. No. We need to concentrate on solving Zimbabwe’s problems, he said.

Speeches at the Heroes Acre have traditionally become a platform for Mugabe to attack the West. Analysts say it provides him with a convenient tool to divert attention and seek to blame others for the countrys collapse under his ZANU PF regime. His humiliating defeat to the MDC in the March 2008 elections has also seen him seek to blame the West for trying to unseat him.