WikiLeaks promises more docs on Zim

So far, only one confidential valedictory note by the outgoing US ambassador Chris Dell has been published by WikiLeaks, the organization that has stunned the world by releasing secret US military videos and documents.

WikiLeaks says it has a total of 2 998 cables on Zimbabwe, of which 39 are “secret” while 1 542 are classified with 1 417 cables unclassified.

The group gave the documents in advance to The New York Times and four European newspapers, sparking frantic diplomatic activity at White House. The first Zimbabwe cable, titled “The End is Nigh”, and inked in July 2007, discloses a devastating portrait of the US’s low opinion about the MDC and failing efforts to remove President Robert Mugabe from power.

Sharon Hudson-Dean, the US embassy spokesperson told The Zimbabwean that as a matter of policy, the embassy did not comment on documents that “purport” to contain classified information.

“We condemn in the strongest terms the deliberate and unauthorized disclosure of information represented as classified materials by individuals and organizations which puts lives at risk and jeopardizes our national security,” Hudson-Dean said.

“Any unauthorized disclosure of information by WikiLeaks has harmful implications not only for the lives of identified individuals, but also for global engagement among and between nations.”

This is the biggest leak of diplomatic cables in history. The current US’s top envoy in Harare, Ambassador Charles A.Ray said the US government was committed to maintaining the security of its diplomatic communications and is taking steps to make sure they are kept in confidence. The first explosive Zimbabwe cable showed the US envoy believed Mugabe was “a brilliant tactician”, brands MDC “far from ideal” and says the Prime Minister is “not readily open to advice, indecisive and with questionable judgment in selecting those around him.”

Tsvangirai’s Office has retorted that the PM’s “not bothered” with what the US thinks, and is more worried about the opinions of Zimbabweans, according to Jameson Timba, the minister of State in the PM’s Office. The cables have been used as propaganda cannon fodder by the State media here, which says it confirms the US government’s so-called “illegal regime change agenda.”