PANW Editor: This article was originally published on March 19, 2002
Zimbabwe Under Attack: Western Threats Must Be Viewed Within Historical Context
Efforts to destabilize the Zimbabwe Government continues; some historical precedents in Nkrumah's Ghana of the 1960s
By Abayomi Azikiwe, Editor
Pan-African News Wire
NEWS ANALYSIS (PANW)—Whether the African continent has endorsed the recently held national elections in Zimbabwe or not, the western countries are determined to continue their destabilization program against the southern African nation.
President Mugabe was sworn in on Sunday 17 March by Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku after winning 56% of the popular vote in an election that witnessed a concerted effort by the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union to influence the outcome in favor of the party that the west assisted through financing and propaganda to work towards the overthrow of the ZANU-PF Government.
Some of the leaders that attended the swearing in ceremony included President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), President Kabili Muluzi of Malawi, President Joachim Chissano of Mozambique , President Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania, President Sam Nujoma of Namibia, President Levy Mwanawasa of Zambia and Botswana’s Acting President Ian Khama.
In addition, President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo sent high-level representatives since they were already coming to Harare on the following Monday for a meeting with President Mugabe.
Yet, despite these political activities surrounding the re-election of President Mugabe, the western nations are continuing to claim that the elections were unacceptable. Many within Africa and the international community feel that the main reason behind the west’s rejection and persecution of the Zimbabwean government lies within the nation’s domestic and international policy which has sought to redress the legacy of colonialism and racism within the southern African region.
Based upon the actions taken by western-backed opposition leaders in Zimbabwe, the government is now moving to step up its internal security apparatus to stifle any illegal effort to overthrow a legitimately elected African government.
In an article published in the Zimbabwean Chronicle newspaper
on 16 March, the writer indicates that “We all know that Zimbabwe’s former colonial master Britain, the major sponsor of MDC, had hoped that Mr Tsvangirai would win and thus pay them back by reversing the land reform program. The people of Zimbabwe put them to shame by voting for President Mugabe. In doing so the message from the people was loud and clear—we want land.”
The article continues by saying that “Now like a dog on a leash, MDC is being told to come up with “mass actions” to give Britain and the US a good “excuse” to attack Zimbabwe. Let it be known that Zimbabwe has the capacity and capability to repel such attacks.”
Historical example of African destabilization: Nkrumah’s Ghana
Efforts aimed at the Mugabe government by the west are not new to the post-independence legacy of colonial and neo-colonial interference in the internal affairs of these nations.
Kwame Nkrumah, who led the Ghana independence struggle from 1947 to 1957, fell victim to a western-financed and engineered destabilization program when he was overthrown by a military coup in 1966. Key to his removal from office was a concerted disinformation campaign utilizing the media and the diplomatic community from the United States and the United Kingdom.
In his book entitled “Dark Days in Ghana” published in 1968 two years after his removal from office, Nkrumah states that: “It has been said that the fabrication of the “big lie” is essential in the planning of any usurpation of political power. In the case of Ghana, the big lie told to the world was that Ghana needed to be rescued from ‘economic chaos.’ Various other lies were hinged to this central lie. The country was said to hopelessly in debt and the people on the verge of starvation. Among the lies aimed against me personally was the one that I had accumulated a large private fortune; this was to form the basis for an all-out character assassination attempt. But these lies were subsidiary to the one big lie of ‘economicmismanagement’, which was to provide an umbrella excuse for the seizure of power by neo-colonialist inspired traitors.”
During the period of Nkrumah’s independent government in Ghana, 1957-1966, the country served as a rear base for national liberation movements from throughout Africa and the world. President Robert Mugabe spent time in Ghana during this period where he obtained training in revolutionary theory and organization.
One of the key areas of interests to the Nkrumah government was the total liberation of the African continent. At the independence celebration on March 6, 1957, Nkrumah stated that the freedom of Ghana was meaningless if it was not linked to the complete eradication of colonialism on the continent.
This is the reason behind President Nkrumah’s militant stance against the former European-settler regime in Rhodesia. In late 1965, Ian Smith declared a Unilateral Declaration of Independence which effectively absolved Britain of its responsibility in resolving the Zimbabwe question. Nkrumah demanded that the United Kingdom government take military action to remove the European-settler regime of Ian Smith.
The refusal of Britain to take meaningful action against the
rebellion by the white settlers led to the severing of diplomatic relations between the UK and Ghana in late 1965, several months prior to the overthrow of the Nkrumah government.
In a book by Nkrumah entitled: “The Rhodesia File”, he says that: “ Let me first state the position of Ghana, which remains unchanged. We consider that the United Kingdom has under the charter of the United Nations certain positive obligations towards the African people of Southern Rhodesia which are set out in Article 73. If Britain is unwilling or unable to fulfill these obligations the United Nations must step in. Ghana considers that the proper organ through which the United Nations should intervene is the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). This view has now been supported by the Security Council of the United Nations.”
Later on in the same book, it points out that: “Nkrumah set a time for Britain to end the settler rebellion in Rhodesia. When the time limit expired on 15 December, Ghana in compliance with the OAU resolution agreed at the 1965 Accra Summit meeting, broke off diplomatic relations with Britain.”
A little over two months after the Ghana Government broke off diplomatic relations with Britain the Nkrumah dominated state was overthrown through illegal military and police actions.
Lessons for the Zimbabwe government today
It appears that the opposition MDC realized several months ago that it was not capable of winning a democratically contested election in Zimbabwe. Consequently, last month a
plot was exposed on Australian television that documented
Tsvangarai’s attempt to elicit the support of a consulting firm in Montreal, Canada to participate in an effort to assassinate President Mugabe and to overthrow the government of Zimbabwe.
Although Tsvangirai denied the authenticity of the videotape
and the Australian television documentary, the transcript of
the actual recordings were published on the Afrikan Frontline web site at http://www.afrikan.net . These transcripts indicate that there was a serious attempt to foment an international plot to remove the democratically elected government of an African nation with the assistance of western governments and financial interests.
These are serious issues for the Zimbabwe Government to address in its effort to protect the independence and sovereignty of the country. One major feature of the west’s destabilization campaign against Zimbabwe is the role of the Commonwealth which is scheduled to convene on Tuesday 19 March to discuss the results of the elections in the country. This meeting will be held in London and it will consist of the Commonwealth troika on Zimbabwe comprised of the presidents of South Africa, Nigeria, and the prime minister of Australia.
The Commonwealth was split along racial lines over the Zimbabwe question prior to the national elections held on March 9-11. The African nations supported the efforts of the Zimbabwe Government to exercise its legal right to conduct elections inside its territory. The European states, Australia and Britain wanted to impose economic sanctions and install the western-backed opposition group, the MDC, in power. These efforts were only thwarted by the steadfast position of the African governments within the Commonwealth.
British press reports on Zimbabwe have also reflected the government’s hostility toward the African nation. In a Guardian Newspaper article on 11 March, the tabloid states that some staff members within the BBC have objected to the general tone of the network’s coverage of political developments in Zimbabwe.
In an article entitled: “BBC Zimbabwe Line Colonial, Says Staff”, published on 11 March it states that “Senior figures at the BBC World Service have expressed concern to the domestic news division that coverage of the Zimbabwe elections has been driven by a
“colonial agenda”, potentially causing damage to the corporation’s reputation for impartiality.”
This article continues by pointing out that “There has also been concern about the frequent BBC claim that it is banned from Zimbabwe. While it is true to say that BBC correspondents have been refused entry, a number of African World Service reporters are working legitimately there.”
Such biased coverage has attempted to convince people both inside and outside of the country that all of the political crimes committed inside the country are done by the Zimbabwe Government and its supporters.
However, an article published in the Herald newspaper on 16 March states that: "Police statistics show that the opposition party’s members committed 176 politically-motivated crimes last year including the murder of Bulawayo war veterans’ leader Mr Cain Nkala while ZANU-PF supporters were responsible for 157 political crimes.”
It continues by saying that: “During last weekend’s presidential election, MDC also committed the highest number
of crimes with its members involved in 570 incidents while ZANU-PF supporters were responsible for two cases.”
Nonetheless, the western press, whose governments support the political factions inside Zimbabwe that are committing these crimes, are not reporting on the activities of their surrogates in the country. Most articles written by mainstream press agencies in the United States, Britain and Europe are against the Mugabe government and these accounts of developments in the country attempt to portray him as someone that is less than honorable and legitimate.
A writer from the War Veterans' Association in Bulawayo sums
up the majority sentiment in Zimbabwe through a letter to the Chronicle newspaper published on the 15 March. The letter says that: “The union of this continent will never be realized as long as we allow the Western bullies to dictate our destiny through sponsoring some of our people to oppose the governments for the sake of money."
“Zimbabwe, in particular, has never had peace since 1890 when the British left their island and invaded our country. They have taken everything that our country had to enable its people to fend for themselves, and they continue to loot and hoard all our resources,” the letter by the war veterans say.
This letter continues by asking a series of questions: “Do you know that Zimbabwe is for Africans? Why don’t you do things for yourselves? You enjoy being spoon-fed, controlled and paid by foreigners from your own resources. Why do you worship these white foreigners? Are you not human beings like them?"
“Don’t betray Africa, your God-given continent. Don’t betray Joshua Nkomo,
Robert Mugabe, ex-detainees, war veterans and the masses."
"Don’t sell your country! Vote for Land."
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