The meeting lasted for about an hour and a half during which the minister addressed the gathering and also fielded questions from the immigrants which ranged from the sensible to the hysterical.
One Zimbabwean woman (she later told me she was a prophet of God) took the floor in front of the two diplomats for almost ten minutes.
She denounced the Conservative government in 1980 for allowing Robert Mugabe to win the election in February 1980. She said the elections had been fiddled and told Bellingham that shes read that was the case in two books one written by Ian Smith (The Great Betrayal), the other by Joshua Nkomo (My Life).
Bellingham spoke of the excellent progress made by the GNU over the last 20 months.
He said inflation was down to eight percent. No country in the world has made such a recovery over the last 20 months, he said.
Eton educated Bellingham praised Zimbabwe s Minister for Finance Tendai Biti and said that the credibility and trust that he has built up was quite extraordinary.
The ambassador claimed that the GPA had turned around the national economy and that Britain was only helping to feed one million Zimbabweans this year and that money from Zimbabwe s colossal diamond wealth was finally reaching the Treasury (32 million, so far).
The minister said that Britain would like to see a strong monitoring system in place before the election (expected next year around June) but regarded the SADC as the main player when it comes to ascertaining whether elections are free and fair.
He claimed there had been an improvement in the field of human rights since the formation of GNU and that Britain would do everything to assist its EU partners when it came to monitoring an election.
He indicated Britain could not take a high profile because of historical ties, in other words, Britain being the colonial master of southern Rhodesia until April 1980. He said he was impressed by the drive and resilience of the Zimbabweans people.
I asked him if there could ever be lasting peace, reconciliation and healing in Zimbabwe without Mugabe and his key security advisers appearing at the International Criminal Court at the Hague. He said that was something to be decided by the Zimbabwean people.
Two days later at Chatham House, London, the diplomatic duo performed for a second time with senior officials there describing the Bellingham/Canning interpretation of British policy towards Zimbabwe as tip toeing and cautious.
After the meeting at the Foreign Office, two young Zimbabweans said to me: We got the impression that Britain is more interested in Zimbabwe s newfound diamond wealth than human rights. It was a master class in diplomatic doublespeak. Very unimpressed.
Post published in: Africa News