South African President Thabo Mbeki's attempt to blame Britain for Zimbabwe's problems may convince leaders at the Southern African Development Community's (SADC) summit in Lusaka today. But it is unlikely to bring a peaceful resolution of the country's crisis any closer -- and is certain to deepen misgivings about perceived anti-Western tendencies in South Africa's international outlook.
The SADC asked Mbeki to mediate between Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change after a brutal crackdown on government critics, including the beating of MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, caused international repulsion earlier this year.
But regional analysts say that despite claims to the contrary, Mbeki has made little progress in bridging the gulf between the two sides.
"He will put the best shine of his efforts, which are in all probability failing miserably, and that will suit the SADC because they don't want to do anything anyway," one observer said.
According to leaks to South African media, Mbeki's report backs Mugabe's claims that British-orchestrated sanctions are the principal cause of Zimbabwe's woes, including hyperinflation and accelerating economic meltdown, and that the government is effectively the target of a "regime change" plot hatched in London with US backing.
The Mbeki report says "the most worrisome thing is that the UK continues to deny its role as the principal protagonist in the Zimbabwean issue."
Britain harbored a "death wish" against the Mugabe government, it said.
Defending his policy of farm seizures, draconian price controls and nationalization of foreign-owned companies this week, Mugabe rehearsed the theme.
"If indeed we are a sovereign independent nation, we see no reason whatever why our empowerment programs should encounter undeserved opposition as comes from Britain regularly," he said. "Economic saboteurs do not have a place in Zimbabwe."
Britain denies trying to overthrow Mugabe, although it has made no secret of its hope to see a new leader in Harare. Yet while Mugabe's position is well-known in London, Mbeki's apparently anti-colonialist arguments and buck-passing will cause particular alarm in Washington.
The US until now has accepted South Africa's contention that "quiet diplomacy" is the way forward with Zimbabwe. Mbeki's failure to deliver is being set alongside a series of other foreign policy positions adopted by the government that run contrary to wider US and Western interests.
According to the New Republic magazine's James Kirchick, these include recent, friendly contacts between South Africa's intelligence minister and Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader; support of Iran's nuclear program; and defending Sudan and Myanmar against proposed UN sanctions.
Mbeki and colleagues were the willing heirs to an "anti-imperialist intellectual tradition heroically opposed to the Western democracies," Kirchick said in the Los Angeles Times.
Western intelligence agencies fret privately about South Africa's alleged reluctance to help track Islamist extremists and suspect funds. According to one regional analyst, such hostile outside assessments fail to appreciate the driving force in sub-Saharan politics: the insistence on African sovereignty, which Mugabe exploits.
All the same, this week's expected failure to tackle the crisis will increase talk of rasher remedies.
Quoting recent appeals by Archbishop Pius Ncube of Bulawayo for British military intervention to topple Mugabe, Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby said this week: "Countless lives could be saved and incalculable suffering ended if Mr Mugabe were forced from power."
"A detachment of US marines could do the job on its lunch break."
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS