Commonwealth gears up to expel Zimbabwe

ZIMBABWE could be expelled from the 54-nation Commonwealth and a trade embargo slapped on the country on top of smart sanctions already imposed on President Robert Mugabe and his chief backers, it was established this week.

The tough action was reported as tension rose dramatically between the Commonwealth and Mugabe, who was reportedly refusing to even respond to telephone calls from Commonwealth secretary- general Don McKinnon.

Mugabe is also said to have snubbed efforts by McKinnon, the London-based Commonwealth secretariat as well as those of a three- member special Commonwealth panel on Zimbabwe to resolve the country's deepening crisis, triggered by Mugabe's land policies and a disputed March presidential ballot.

Willard Chiwewe, senior permanent secretary in Zimbabwe's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, confirmed yesterday there was a breakdown of cooperation between Harare and McKinnon, but denied Mugabe had not responded to telephone calls from McKinnon.

He spoke as the United States for the first time publicly announced it was working with three southern African countries to isolate Mugabe for what Washington terms his fraudulent re-election in March.

The 15-nation European Union, the US, Canada, Switzerland and New Zealand have already imposed targeted sanctions against Mugabe and 72 of his officials over the poll which they have blasted as deeply flawed.

In a sign of growing impatience by the international community over Harare's conduct, US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Walter Kansteiner this week said Washington did not recognise Mugabe's presidency and wanted him isolated further.

He specifically mentioned Africa's powerhouse South Africa, Mozambique and Botswana as countries he said Washington was working with to isolate Mugabe, in power for the past 22 years.

Pacific Commonwealth nations also ratcheted up the pressure for Zimbabwe's expulsion from the group, demanding at the weekend that the club must act on Zimbabwe as it did on Fiji, which it suspended and slapped with trade sanctions after a coup in May 2000.

The 11 Pacific states made the call during their annual Pacific Island Forum held in Fiji.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who heads the Commonwealth troika on Zimbabwe which earlier this year suspended Harare from meetings of the Commonwealth's councils, boldly endorsed the position of the Pacific nations in a move which others said could be a signal of the way the committee would act on Zimbabwe.

"The rule book was thrown at Fiji. There is no reason why other countries should be treated more sparingly in a situation like this than Fiji was treated," Howard told journalists after the Pacific nations' meeting.

South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki and Nigerian leader Olusegun Obasanjo are the other members of the Commonwealth special committee on Zimbabwe.

Howard said: "The countries gathered here comprise one fifth of the membership of the Commonwealth so this is no small expression of Commonwealth opinion (on Zimbabwe).

"I think there would be some countries in Africa that would be less sympathetic to the point of view put here but even many of them would agree with it."

Howard said ties with Zimbabwe had hit their lowest ebb, with Mugabe "utterly unresponsive" to overtures by the Commonwealth, a club of Britain and its former colonies.

"President Mugabe has been utterly unresponsive to the approaches of the secretary- general of the Commonwealth and quite indifferent to world opinion," Howard said.

He noted that even Pakistani strongman Pervez Musharraf, whose country was suspend by the Commonwealth after his 1999 military coup, had cooperated more positively than Mugabe.

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, who spoke to journalists together with Howard, said relations had soured to the extent that Mugabe was not even returning McKinnon's telephone calls.

"It is a matter of public record that Mr Mugabe will not respond to Mr McKinnon's calls. Zimbabwe is simply not engaging either with the secretary-general, the secretariat, or with Mr Howard and his group at this time."

Chiwewe dismissed as hypocritical and racist assertions that Harare was unresponsive or uncooperative.

"They (Clark and Howard) are very dishonest and hypocritical because they are deliberately ignoring the context within which the actions they allege are supposed to have occurred," he told the Financial Gazette.

"On the issue of McKinnon, Zimbabwe has been suspended from the councils of the Commonwealth so against such background under what umbrella would he want to contact Zimbabwe?"

Chiwewe said the Commonwealth troika had wrongly suspended Zimbabwe, basing its action on a report produced by election observers who concurred with several other international missions that the March poll was a fraud.

The Commonwealth Group Observer Mission (CGOM) was led by former Nigerian head of state Abdulsalaam Abubakar.

Said Chiwewe: "They are ignoring Zimbabwe's argument that the CGOM report was seriously flawed, knowing that to accept it would be to betray the white Commonwealth and their kith and kin in Zimbabwe. This is not about democracy; it is all about racism."

Howard sikirted questions by journalists on whether expulsion and sanctions were the next course of action given Harare's refusal to cooperate with either McKinnon or the troika.

"I find the situation completely unsatisfactory and obviously could have significant consequences as far as the relationship between Zimbabwe and the Commonwealth is concerned," the prime minister would only say.

As well as imposing limited trade sanctions and expelling Fiji, the Commonwealth appointed a special envoy to the Pacific nation who helped facilitate dialogue between various interest groups there.

Analysts said Commonwealth trade sanctions against Zimbabwe - even at a limited level - would spell doom for the government because such embargoes could starve Harare of critical support from its neighbours, all of whom are members of Commonwealth.

Others noted a 1986 blockade of Lesotho by South Africa, which eventually triggered a coup in Lesotho, toppling long-ruling prime minister Chief Leabua Jonathan.

The analysts noted that it was the support of Pretoria, as well as that of Zambia, Botswana and Mozambique which had kept a financially crippled Harare just afloat.

University of Zimbabwe political science professor Masipula Sithole said: "If there are Commonwealth sanctions against Zimbabwe, then there would be nothing to wait for except a slow but sure collapse of the government."

But Mugabe and his ruling ZANU PF party have refused to stand by and watch the international community's noose tightening around the neck.

Two weeks ago a ZANU PF delegation was in South Africa for talks with that country's ruling African National Congress (ANC).

Observers say the talks - followed barely seven days later by another round of talks this time involving ZANU PF and Botswana's ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) - were an attempt by Mugabe to marshal Pretoria and Gaborone's help to resist Harare's possible expulsion from the Commonwealth.

Pretoria is also the chairman of the Africa Union and Gaborone is the head of the influential Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, whose voice is critical in any decision to expel Zimbabwe.

ZANU PF's national chairman John Nkomo refused this week to disclose the subject of discussions between the Zimbabwean party and the BDP and the ANC.

ANC secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe denied Zimbabwe was seeking South Africa's help to fight off mounting calls that it be expelled from the Commonwealth.

"No, there has been no such discussion," Motlanthe told the Financial Gazette by telephone from South Africa.

"As a member of the Commonwealth, we would have to hear out those calling for Zimbabwe's expulsion and then relying on our understanding of the situation we would then have to decide what position to take," he said.

Sithole said Zimbabwe was unlikely to muster enough support over its expulsion because it had worsened its pariah image by continuing to evict and arrest hundreds of white farmers who have refused to leave their farms because they have no other homes.

The government is expelling the farmers to make room for landless blacks, most of them its supporters, under controversial reforms which deny compensation to the farmers.

Ross Herbert, a senior researcher on Africa at the South Africa Institute for International Affairs, said Commonwealth sanctions against Harare would be "a further step in isolating Mugabe but he may not immediately fall as result of that".

"But it would be merely a matter of time before that flash point is reached when people rebel because of the negative effect of the sanctions, coupled with the deteriorating economic situation and worsening food shortages," Herbert said.

lZimbabwe accused the United States and Britain yesterday of a "racist" campaign to isolate Mugabe internationally and maintain white economic dominance in southern Africa.

The US said this week it did not consider Mugabe, who won a controversial election in March, a legitimate leader and was working with governments in the region to isolate him.

"The legitimacy of our political system or our President is not dependent on America, Britain or any other country but on Zimbabweans," a senior Zimbabwean foreign affairs official said.

"The bullying tactics that America and Britain are using against us are meant to frustrate our quest for social and economic justice, to stop our programme to redistribute some of the very large tracts of land held by whites here to the indigenous black people," he said. - Reuter

***Others noted a 1986 blockade of Lesotho by South Africa, which eventually triggered a coup in Lesotho, toppling long-ruling prime minister Chief Leabua Jonathan. South Africa, Mozambique and Botswana encircle landlocked Zimbabwe. The analysts noted that it was the support of Pretoria, as well as that of Zambia, Botswana and Mozambique which had kept a financially crippled Harare just afloat.

.... "The legitimacy of our political system or our President is not dependent on America, Britain or any other country but on Zimbabweans," a senior Zimbabwean foreign affairs official said. "The bullying tactics that America and Britain are using against us are meant to frustrate our quest for social and economic justice, to stop our programme to redistribute some of the very large tracts of land held by whites here to the indigenous black people," he said. ***

Mugabe cheated his way to power and he must go, says US***America has issued its strongest attack yet on President Mugabe of Zimbabwe, describing him as an illegitimate leader who won power by fraud and saying it would encourage his people to "correct that situation". Stopping just short of calling for a change of regime, Walter Kansteiner, the US government's Africa policy chief, said America does "not see President Mugabe as the democratically legitimate leader of the country".

Mr Kansteiner said Washington was working with countries in Africa and Europe to "encourage the body politic of Zimbabwe" to "correct that situation and start providing an environment that would lead to a free and fair election". US support being offered to Zimbabwean aid organisations and human rights groups is reminiscent of the West's successful move to undermine Slobodan Milosevic by providing Serbian pro-democracy activists with money, computers and other aid.*** [Gadaafi LINKS]

Rumsfeld Bluntly Warns Russia Ties To Iraq Will Hurt It***"What that tells people in business is that is not an environment that is hospitable for investment, that it is not a place that they want to invest....To the extent that the country is saying to world that they want to be known as close personal friends to Saddam Hussein, and Fidel Castro and Kim Jong Il and those folks, it sends a signal that is harmful to them," Rumsfeld said. In another part of his remarks, Rumsfeld also included Libya in the list of states he was warning Russia not to do business with.***

July 2001 - Gadaffi bids to be leader of Africa*** THE new African Union (AU), launched at a summit of the Organisation of African Unity in Lusaka last week, is to have its own parliament. Indeed, the parliament building has already been built - in Tripoli. For the idea of the AU is being driven by Colonel Muammar Gadaffi, the Libyan president. Now that his long-standing ambitions for an Arab Union have come to nothing, he is hoping to play a central role in a union of African states instead. The organisation promises to respect democracy and good governance more than the OAU ever did. The snag is that its new parliament will sit in a country that allows no opposition, no free elections, free speech or free press.

In March, Gadaffi announced plans for single a African identity and a union under which the boundaries between states would be scrapped, national armies merged and a single passport introduced. Amazingly, this vision seems to have been largely accepted by African leaders. It has also been decided that, besides the parliament, there will be a pan-African court of justice, a central bank and a common currency. Clearly with the aim of flattering Thabo Mbeki, the South African president, Gadaffi has proposed that the first AU summit should be held in Pretoria next year and should elect a president - presumably Mbeki. ***

Aligned with Castro and Gaddafi - Mugabe Vows to Defend Zimbabwe from Western 'Bullies' *** HARARE, Zimbabwe (Reuters) - President Robert Mugabe vowed on Tuesday to defend his government against Western "bullies" and said Zimbabwe's economic recovery hinged on land redistribution. In a 40-minute speech to open the new parliamentary session, Mugabe made no direct mention of tighter EU sanctions, his media crackdown or any plans for his ZANU-PF party to resume talks with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Strongly defending his government's right to take possession of white farmers' land, he ignored a boycott of his speech by MDC legislators, who make up just over a third of the assembly.

Outside the southern African state's parliament, there was no sign of a planned protest march by pro-democracy activists after police warnings that the demonstration would be crushed. Mugabe said Zimbabwe, in the grips of its worst economic and political crisis since independence from Britain in 1980, was facing "considerable challenges" from what he called "British machinations" and a regional drought.

The economy is in its fourth year of recession with record high inflation and unemployment and a severe food shortage. "Our sovereignty is constantly under attack from the bullying states ... which seek to use their political and economic prowess to achieve global hegemony," Mugabe said. At 78, Mugabe is a left-winger who counts Cuba's Fidel Castro and Libya's Muammar Gaddafi among his foreign allies. Monday, the European Union extended a blacklist of Zimbabwean officials subjected to a visa ban and asset freeze. The move is aimed at piling more pressure on the country whose human rights record it says has deteriorated since Mugabe's re-election in March. ***

Zimbabwe -- Libyan spy spills the beans***LIBYAN spy Yousef Murgham, summarily deported from Zimbabwe last week, has revealed startling details of Libya's growing economic and military stranglehold on Zimbabwe, which is immersed in its worst crisis for survival. Murgham's details are revealed in a letter he wrote to President Robert Mugabe before his abrupt deportation to Libya last Thursday amid accusations he was engaged in activities which threatened Zimbabwe's security and interests.***

Zimbabwe -- Beware the U-turn***……….The key to understanding what Mugabe and his Zanu PF party are up to - for blacks as well as whites - is the word**************** "LEASES***************." The ruling party moguls, security force chiefs and 54,000 others getting so-called "model 2" holdings, capable of being farmed on an individual basis, will not be granted the freehold their 5,000 white predecessors had (The first 2,900 seizure and eviction orders fell due on August 9 and scores of whites were detained over the past weekend for defying them, although their constitutional validity is heavily in doubt). At the first sign of political disloyalty the "new farmers", as Mugabe calls them, will be liable to instant eviction.

"Owning land for Britain" means supporting civil society, or talking to human rights groups critical of Zanu PF, or voting for an opposition party. Mugabe showered praise on his ruling party youth militia, now commonly known here as the "Green Bombers". Their fraudulent claims to be ex- guerrillas from the 1972-80 bush war in Rhodesia were exposed in the early days of farm invasions, after the February 2000 constitutional referendum. It was the crushing defeat of Zanu PF in that referendum that caused Mugabe to unleash country-wide violence under cover of agitation for land reform in order to ensure a semblance of victory in the June 2000 parliamentary elections and the March 2002 presidential poll.

This campaign of terror Mugabe calls the "Third Chimurenga" or civil war. "The Third Chimurenga has yielded a New War Veteran: these young men and women who slugged it out on the farms in support of their elder veterans...We are not apologetic about our national youth service programme...it is mandatory, it is national, it links to the politics and defence of our country…It seeks to and will build a new national cadre who is self respecting, adequate, assertive and patriotic and thus does not apologise for being black," he said. Mugabe sees his enemy as "White-ism" - the route `"through which the forces of imperialism and neo-colonialism enter."

Mugabe either does not know that it is impossible to run commercially viable farms on the lord-and-vassal system he is imposing, or feels that the economic costs are more than offset by the blessings of "political stability" (i.e. he gets to stay in power until he can hand over to his children). Commercial agriculture here only prospered by being keenly responsive to world market trends. In the 20 years since the state monopoly, the Minerals Marketing Corporation, was created, millions have been lost through the tardiness of bureaucrats in responding to potential orders - they are paid for loyalty, not for initiative.

Doris Lessing, a founder member of Rhodesia's long defunct Communist party, concedes that her father's Kermanshah Farm at Banket (one of the 2,900 now being seized, although her family sold up 60 years ago) was hopelessly sub-economic at 400 hectares - and those were the days of ox-ploughing. To maintain competitive edge in an age of mechanisation, farmers need security of tenure, title deeds that can be lodged with financial institutions against loans.***

June 15, 2002 - Gaddafi 'aims to hijack' African Union organization***Mr Mbeki fears Colonel Gaddafi's bid to control the AU will derail the New Partnership for African Development (Nepad), which is backed by Tony Blair and other G8 leaders and is due to be an AU project. Under Nepad, countries adhering to democracy and good governance will receive aid from richer countries in addition to other concessions. The Libyan leader has deployed several diplomats to lobby African countries to delay the Durban ceremony because he wants the AU to be launched in Sirte, Libya. That would automatically give him the chairmanship of the AU.

Colonel Gaddafi wants the Durban meeting downgraded to an annual summit of OAU leaders pending the launch of the AU in Libya at a later stage. But diplomats attending an OAU-Civil Society summit here say his ambitions will sabotage any programmes intended to help Africa's recovery. "Mbeki knows that any move to put the AU under Gaddafi will immediately kill both the AU and Nepad because no Western country will pour aid into a programme or institution run by Gaddafi," said one diplomat.***

August 9, 2002 - Group Faults Libya's Nomination to Head U.N. Commission on Human Rights***UNITED NATIONS, Aug 8 (IPS) - A leading human rights organization has appealed to African nations to reverse their decision to nominate Libya as the next chairman of the Geneva-based U.N. Commission on Human Rights. "Countries with dreadful rights records should never be in charge of chairing the Commission on Human Rights," Rory Mungoven, global advocacy director for New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), said Thursday.

"Libya's long record of human rights abuses clearly does not merit such a reward," he added. But a spokesman for the Libyan Mission to the United Nations refuted the charges made by HRW. "They are entitled to their opinion," he told IPS. "Ours is an open society. We have nothing to hide and we are not in violation of human rights," he added. Moreover, he said, Libya's nomination had been endorsed at the highest levels of government - at a summit meeting of more than 50 African leaders in Durban, South Africa last month.

The original decision to nominate Libya was taken by the U.N.'s African regional group, comprising all 54 African members. It was reaffirmed by heads of state attending the recently concluded inaugural summit of the new African Union (AU), the successor to the now-defunct Organisation of African Unity (OAU). ***

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