Mugabe , Beshir and the West
July 18, 2008 (Perth, Australia) - I don't blame those who hate Zimbabwe's President, Robert Gabriel Mugabe. I don't, too, have a bad taste of those who love Mugabe for what they believe he stands for: the voice of the oppressed. As long as both sides have a strong, critic worthy view, we can take that on intellectual ground.
Mugabe is killing people, yes. Can anyone deny that? No! No one denies that. But why are there people still supporting him? If his supporters admit him to be 'the worst dictator' then what is the big deal?
Human ideas and ways are not that easily understood. Perhaps everyone is saying the truth: Mugabe and his critics are both right. Or mabybe Mugabe is the world's worst dictator. Or maybe Mugabe is right and his critics are deluded.
I for my part believe that Mugabe is killing people. While I do believe that to be true, I blame the 'blamerrs' of Mugabe for ignoring what brought the problem in the first place.
The Lancaster house conference promised the then Zimbabwe government when they know that tenures end.
The then new post-colonial Rhodesian government led by Mugabe was promised a protracted land reform in 1979 conference. The 'willing buyer, willing seller' arrangement gave Mugabe some hope that his then colonial masters had some commitment to solving the land issue. By independence [80% of agricultural land] was in the hand of minority whites. Mugabe's hands were held back by the arrangement and the new post colonial constitution.
When Clare Short, responded in 1997 in a letter to Mugabe's minister in reply to Mugabe's request that British fulfil their commitments, she lashed out that UK government was not bound by past treaties. She argues that "We are a new government from diverse backgrounds without links to former colonial interests. My own origins are Irish and, as you know, we were colonised, not colonisers."
This angered Mugabe and his government. Mugabe took it upon himself to solve the land reform in his own ways through constitutional changes. This suited his wishes. The question then becomes: Why did UK government accept to support that arrangement then? They perhaps had a direct colonial link then and felt direct responsibility.
While Mugabe should not use land reform as a pretext to silence his opponents, he has been duped into what he is doing. The average Zimbabwean is suffering because of problems orchestrated and doctored by the British and executed by Mugabe. Mugabe is too complacent to know that. He is disowning the traditional view that Africans are complacent.
Opposition in Zimbabwe is given ways to make sure Mugabe goes. Morgan Tsvangirai is fooling himself. Mugabe at the same time is made aware that such an arrangement is taking place. Unless Mugabe is an angel or a saint, he will try to eliminate those who would want to eliminate him first.
Mugabe has been turned against his own people. He was made to be the monster he has become. Why wasn't Mugabe that monstrous when he came to power in 1980? He then thought the Brits and the Americans were trusted fellows. He has now realized they have not trust-worthy. They were after their own interests.
What Mugabe failed to realize is that the West doesn't give a kick about what happens to the average Zimbabwean. They are about removing a voice that dare oppose the entrenched 'Westernism.' Inflation in Zimbabwe in about 100 000% and the economy is a complete failure. Goods are out and expensive. Yet some voices in the West, the puppets, have nerve to call for sanction against Zimnbabwe. This doesn't help the average Zimbabwean.
Thank God African leaders have come of age. They are cautious in dealing with Zimbabwe's issues. Thanks to Thabo Mbeki and African Union. Western governments and some petty western journalists want to enforce the classical Western ways in Zimbabwe. This, Mugabe doesn't realize. The Tsvangirais and the Railas think they can change Africa on Western terms. This is sick and self-defeating. While such leaders are not the best alternatives, Mugabe should think better than this.
Mugabe is killing people not knowing that the West doesn't suffer in any way. Anytime he kills his opponents, he is not killing anyone in the west, but his own people: not Blair or Bush or Brown or Rudd. The West urges him on by infuriating him so that he remains monstrous. Brown declares sanctions and thinks he is helping the suffering Zimbabwean. Well, he doesn't impose any. Give me a break, Mr. Brown. A help to the average Zimbabwean should be diplomatic not confrontational, humble and not arrogant.
Instead of approaching Mugabe in a sensible and diplomatic way just as African leaders approach the issue, the West calls for some unhelpful, radical methods. While some forces in the West are genuine, a lot more have that traditional ulterior motives. Mugabe is either too old to notice and stop killing people, or he is decided on sacrificing his people in the hope that the fight is the same one he fought in his colonial struggle.
When the ICC prosecutor Luis Mareno-Ocampo asked the judges to issue an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar el Beshir, I was like, oh, the West is at it again. Indicting Bashir only helps the West project itself as that caring brother through a third world soul. While ICC prosecutor request for a warrant alerts President Beshir as to what he's been ignoring, it is the classical western move to turn the president against his people.
There are many ways of solving Sudanese problem. If Beshir is indicted and brought to justice, all oppressed Sudanese will be happy. That is not going to happen. This is the historical way of making fool of us. Well, what can we do? Nothing! Perhaps pray to God.
The likes of Mugabe and Beshir will keep on killing their people as long as some soulless Westerners benefit from the ventures. The Mugabes and Beshirs are made and then destroyed. Some are not so easy to destroy. These classical methods are not working anymore guys. Let's change them.
Kuir Garang is the editorial editor and also a columnist for New Sudan Vision. You can reach him at kuirthiy@yahoo.com
