China can get generals to quit: WikiLeaks

The cable, obtained by WikiLeaks, says German Ambassador to Zimbabwe Albrecht Conze told US ambassador Charles Ray that the PRC plays a significant role in Zimbabwe and that Western nations need to involve them more in cooperative activities wherever possible. In the December 2009 cable, Ray said Conze agreed with him that while China was unlikely to want to participate in pro-democracy programmes, economic stability was clearly in its interests.

Conze believes that the PRC might even be useful in moving security sector reform forward as it has a potential impact on economic stability, and he does not believe South Africa will be really useful in this regard, the cable said. President Robert Mugabe, ostracised by the West for his failure to uphold the rule of law, human rights and democracy, has turned to China and other Asian countries since 2000 as part of a “Look East” policy aimed at propping up Zimbabwe’s troubled economy.

Presiding over what was once considered the world’s fastest-shrinking economy in 2008, the 86-year-old Zimbabwean leader has offered the Chinese open access to all economic sectors at a time when other investors have been leaving in droves. The cable said as part of the plan, the Western diplomats have considered inviting the Chinese ambassador to weekly meetings of the

Fishmongers Head of Mission to explore potential areas of cooperation.

The group currently consists of envoys from the US, Canada, Australia and the European Union. Security chiefs are Mugabes staunchest allies and are credited with keeping the President in power after waging a ruthless campaign of violence in 2008 to force then opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai now Prime Minister to withdraw from a second round presidential poll

that analysts had strongly tipped the former trade unionist to win.

Tsvangirai had beaten Mugabe in the first round ballot but failed to achieve outright victory to avoid the second round run-off poll. The security chiefs have previously vowed to never salute a president who did not take part in Zimbabwes 1970s liberation struggle, in what was seen as a clear warning they would topple any government led by Tsvangirai who did not take part in the independence war.