HARARE Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejads tour of Zimbabwe last week was a colossal political scandal that will damage efforts to end Harares isolation from the international community, the MDC-T has said. Ahmadinejad, who like President Robert Mugabe has courted the ire of Western nations because of his blotted human rights record and controversial nuclear programme, came to Zimbabwe on a two-day visit that saw him officially opening the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair that ended yesterday. His was welcomed at Harare International Airport by Mugabe when he arrived last Thursday but Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai apparently snubbed the Iranian leader by embarking on a regional trip to South Africa and Botswana. There were no senior officials from the MDC at the airport.
In addition to opening the ZITF, Ahmadinejad signed a series of trade and cooperation agreements with government, including opening a multi-million dollar tractor factory in Harare. The plant that the government says will manufacture tractors for sale in Zimbabwe and for export to the region is a joint venture between the governments Industrial Development Corporation, the Iranian Tractor Manufacturing Company and the Iranian Foreign Investment Company.
But the MDC was livid at Ahmadinejads visit, describing talks between Mugabe and Iranian President as a meeting of dictators and an insult to the peace-loving people of Zimbabwe and Iran.
The MDC that agreed to join Mugabes Zanu (PF) party in a coalition government after an inconclusive presidential election in 2008 in which the former opposition party says Tsvangirai was cheated of victory said: It is no secret that Ahmadinejad has perforated human rights credentials. He has made his reputation as a war monger, an executioner of those with dissenting voices and a leader of questionable legitimacy.
The DC that prefers closer ties with rich Western countries with the cash to help bankroll reconstruction of Zimbabwes shattered economy said it was not consulted about the decision to invite Ahmadinejad which it said was a unilateral decision by Mugabe.
Zimbabwe state media that is controlled by Zanu (PF) hailed Ahmadinejads visit as strengthening of ties between developing countries that are under threat from Western powers.
Zimbabwes unity government is looking to restore full relations with the United States and the European Union. But analysts do not see Brussels and Washington agreeing to restore full relations with Harare or scrap visa and financial sanctions against Mugabe and his top allies until their calls for more political and democratic reforms in Zimbabwe are heeded.
Post published in: News