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| author/source:Sunday Independent (SA) |
| published:Sun 14-Dec-2003 |
| posted on this site:Mon 15-Dec-2003 |
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| Article Type : News |
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| British sources said Mbeki's newsletter was being "digested" in London |
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By Peter Fabricius and Toye Olori
President Thabo Mbeki has shocked foreign diplomats and some local observers by justifying Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's forcible seizure of white farmland as "perhaps inevitable". They have also reacted with dismay to what they called Mbeki's "deeply offensive" remarks written in his weekly electronic letter in his party's website journal, ANC Today. These include the charge that Britain opposed Zimbabwe's readmission to the Commonwealth this week merely to protect its "white, settler, colonial kith and kin". And that western powers are using the demand for Mugabe to respect human rights merely as a tool for "regime change" in Zimbabwe. Mbeki used his weekly letter to mount a major broadside assault on those, especially Britain, who opposed Zimbabwe's readmission. Zimbabwe has since quit the Commonwealth over its extended suspension. The Democratic Alliance called Mbeki's letter " a disgusting defence of a disgraceful tyrant". And on Saturday, Nigeria dismissed South African criticism that the Commonwealth summit in Nigeria this week had steamrollered a decision to keep Zimbabwe suspended from the organisation.
Mbeki complained in his newsletter that the land issue, which was central to the Zimbabwe crisis, had not been discussed at the Abuja summit. He concluded that Mugabe's forcible seizure of white farmland in 2000 had become "perhaps inevitable" because Britain and other western countries had broken promises, dating from 1979, to fund peaceful land redistribution. Britain has in the past firmly rejected such charges, insisting that it did donate money for land redistribution until it became apparent that the land was going to Mugabe's cronies and not to needy peasants. Mugabe charged that Britain and other western powers had reneged on their promises to fund land redistribution. Britain and the United States promised this at the Lancaster House negotiations on Zimbabwe's independence in 1979. "The large sums of money promised by both the British and US governments to enable the new government to buy land for African settlement never materialised," Mbeki said.
South Africa and others had called an international land conference in Zimbabwe in 1998, at which Britain, the United Nations, the European Union and others agreed to help finance the programme of land redistribution. "Nothing came of these commitments," Mbeki said. Later South Africa again "intervened to help solve the Zimbabwe land question. We managed to get pledges from various countries, other than the UK, to provide this £9 million (R100 million). "Having handed this matter over to the UN, it collapsed in the intricacies of the UN bureaucracy. Though there were willing sellers and willing buyers, and the necessary funds, the 118 farms were not bought. With everything having failed to restore the land to its original owners in a peaceful manner, a forcible process of land redistribution perhaps became inevitable," Mbeki concluded.
British government sources said Mbeki's newsletter was being "digested" in London, which would decide whether and how to respond. However, Britain has in the past denied criticism that it broke its promises to fund land redistribution. On Britain's foreign office website it says "between 1980 and 1985, the UK provided £47 million for land reform". The British foreign office website said that Britain took part in a 1998 land conference, and agreed to give more funds provided the Zimbabwe government observed the principles it agreed to there. "Those principles included the need for transparency, respect for the rule of law, poverty reduction, affordability and consistency with Zimbabwe's wider economic interests." Britain said its preparations to fund the programme were "interrupted by the illegal farm occupations and the subsequent violence in the run-up to the 2000 parliamentary elections".
In his letter Mbeki insists that Britain's real motive in Zimbabwe is still to protect its own people and suggests that Zanu PF are the real democrats: " Those who fought for a democratic Zimbabwe, with thousands paying the supreme price during the struggle, and forgave their oppressors and torturers in a spirit of national reconciliation, have been turned into repugnant enemies of democracy." Mbeki adds that those campaigning for human rights in Zimbabwe are really just using human rights "as a tool for overthrowing the government of Zimbabwe and rebuilding Zimbabwe as they wish". Graham McIntosh, the Democratic Alliance's spokesperson on Africa, said Mbeki's letter "offers a fascinating but frightening insight into the president's disturbed logic and devotion to lost causes". As with the Aids issue, Mbeki had revealed a "dissident" view on Zimbabwe, he said. "Any informed individual who has visited Zimbabwe and seen the reality of the Mugabe regime's disastrous policies and programmes will agree that the sentiment expressed by President Mbeki is utter nonsense. The president's letter is a disgusting defence of a disgraceful tyrant. He should be ashamed of the way he has used race and smear tactics against the other members of the Commonwealth and its secretary-general and the astonishing trashing of the world's commitment to human rights as 'a tool of US foreign policy'," said McIntosh.
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