Zimbabwe 'Defense Geared to Counter Regime Change Agenda'

President Robert Mugabe of the Republic of Zimbabwe at the 31st anniversary rally commemorating the realization of national indepedence of the Southern African state. The country is preparing for national elections later this year., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

‘Defence geared to counter regime change agenda’

Tuesday, 24 January 2012 00:00
Zimbabwe Herald Reporter

ZIMBABWE'S national defence policy is premised on the need to counter the illegal regime change agenda sponsored by some Western countries in the past decade, Defence Minister, Emmerson Mnangagwa said yesterday. Minister Mnangagwa said this in a lecture to army officers attending the Joint Command and Staff Course Number 25 at the Zimbabwe Staff College.

"With the emergence of the regime change agenda around the year 2000, our defence policy had to be tailored towards countering influences that were being spread by the Western media through such devices as the Internet, CNN, BBC and Sky News," he said.

Minister Mnangagwa said the country's defence policy derived its legal basis from the Constitution.

"The constitutional obligations of the ZDF are threefold, that is, to defend Zimbabwe's independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and national interests, to participate in the creation of a common regional security architecture and to contribute to the maintenance of international peace and stability," he said.

The minister said the violent removal of sitting presidents in some countries in North African countries showed the need to come up with defence policies that safeguard a nation's sovereignty.

"It is clear that the West together with the United States is using such tactics to sponsor regime change in various countries.

Africa therefore needs to guard against such manoeuvres if it is to successfully resist neo-colonialism," he said.

Minister Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe's defence policy respected regional and international treaties and conventions that the country was party to.

He added that Zimbabwe championed a policy of non-interference and preventive diplomacy in its interactions with other nations.

Minister Mnangagwa also said Zimbabwe was against the proliferation of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.

Various officers drawn from the country's security arms and others from Sadc are attending the course.