Harare in row with Western diplomats

HARARE – The United States (US), Germany and European Union (EU) ambassadors on Tuesday rejected attempts by Zimbabwe to reprimand them for “disrespecting” President Robert Mugabe, in an escalating row between Harare and the Western diplomats.

Speaking moments after Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi summoned them for walking out of the burial of Mugabe’s sister last Sunday, the ambassadors insisted they were right to live the event after the veteran leader used the occasion to attack their governments.

Mugabe used the burial of his sister at the National Heroes Acre shrine in Harare to launch one of his habitual tirades against Western powers, accusing them of wanting to control Zimbabwe and rob the country of its resources and telling them to “go to hell”.

US ambassador Charles Ray, Germany’s Albrecht Conze and the EU charge de affaires Barbara Plinkert left the burial immediately after Mugabe had finished speaking, a gesture that did not go down well with their Harare hosts.

In a statement to the ambassadors, Mumbengegwi, who met the diplomats separately at his Munhumutapa offices, said: "I have summoned you to convey our concern and disappointment over your conduct on Sunday, during the burial of the late heroine, Sabina Mugabe.

"Your conduct was therefore very disrespectful to our National Heroes shrine, the heroine who was being honoured and His Excellency the President (Mugabe).

"We are disappointed that you chose such a bad occasion to show your disrespect for Zimbabwe, its leaders, its fallen heroes and its people. This kind of behaviour is unacceptable and will not be tolerated."

But the ambassadors immediately hit back, insisting they equally felt wronged that Mumbengegwi was summoning them when they were the ones who were publicly humiliated and their governments denigrated by Mugabe.

“Honourable Minister, I have heard your statement. I regret that you have chosen to make matters worse by exacerbating a problem created by the Zimbabwean side, rather than attempting to put it behind us,” Ray said in his response to Mumbengegwi that he read out to journalists at the joint press conference held at the US embassy.

“I followed the invitation in order to pay my respects. I earned disrespect in return. It became clear to me during your President’s address that I was not welcome. I had to act accordingly,” the American diplomat said.

Asked by reporters if he would apologise, Germany’s Conze said: “No. No. No. I thought this was a closed chapter. I am not sure why someone decided to open it again. We need to concentrate on solving Zimbabwe’s problems.”

The ambassadors also insisted they had not disrespected Mugabe because they did not leave while he was speaking but waited until he had finished.

Mugabe, who had in recent times appeared to tone down his anti-Western rhetoric following his forming a power-sharing government with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai last year, was blistering against Europe and America last Sunday.

He accused the Western powers of maintaining sanctions against him and his inner circle in a bid to push him out of power.

“To hell with them (West). Whoever told them that they are above the people of Zimbabwe, that the decisions that should be made by the people of Zimbabwe are theirs to make?” said Mugabe.

“We should not allow colonial thieves to take our resources. The country is now in our hands and we should hold on unperturbed by unsolicited advice by those who abused us in the past,” he said.

Despite the formation of the unity government, the United States and the EU have remained critical of Mugabe’s rule, accusing the 86-year leader of stifling democracy and stalling on political and economic reforms.

Washington and Brussels have refused to lift sanctions or provide direct financial support to the Harare coalition demanding that it first speeds up democratic reforms and do more to uphold human rights and the rule of law.

However US and the EU remain the biggest providers of humanitarian support to Zimbabwe, which the United Nations said on Tuesday required US$478 million in assistance up from the $378 million that the world body had initially requested for the southern African country.

A revised Consolidated Appeal Process (CAP) launched in Harare yesterday is meant to raise assistance to take Zimbabwe until the end of the year. UN officials said the CAP was initially meant to run until April but was being extended owing to increasing humanitarian requirements in the country.
– ZimOnline.

UK pledges reforms support

HARARE – The British government has pledged to continue supporting reforms in Zimbabwe, saying the troubled southern African country's future remains overshadowed by rule of law abuses and economic difficulties.

Speaking after meeting Zimbabwe’s Education Minister David Coltart in London earlier this week, UK Foreign Office Minister Lord Howell praised the limited progress made so far by Harare’s coalition government in improving living standards for long-suffering Zimbabweans but said the country was far from improving its human rights and economic track record.

“He assured Minister Coltart of the UK’s continuing assistance to help bolster reform and achieve their aims of a stable, democratic and prosperous Zimbabwe,” the British Foreign Office said in a statement.

Coltart was in London last week at the invitation of the Council for Education in the Commonwealth and the Link Community Development Trust which organised a conference on challenges faced by Zimbabwe’s education sector.

The UK and other Western powers have withheld budgetary support for Zimbabwe’s 17-month-old coalition government until there is evidence of “concrete progress” in implementing political reforms.

The Western nations have demanded full implementation of a power-sharing agreement between President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai as a condition for resumption of budgetary support for Zimbabwe.

Implementation of the agreement has been marred by bickering between Mugabe’s ZANU PF party and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by Tsvangirai over appointment of key regime officials and the pace of political reforms.

Relations between Britain and Zimbabwe soured after London and its Western allies imposed visa and financial sanctions on Mugabe and his top lieutenants as punishment for violating human rights, stealing elections and failure to uphold the rule of law.

Mugabe denies the charges and instead accuses Britain of reneging on promises to fund land reform in Zimbabwe and charges that London and its Western allies have funded his opponents in a bid to oust him from power as punishment for seizing white land for redistribution to blacks.
-Zimonline