President Robert Mugabe put United States ambassador to Zimbabwe Joseph Sullivan on the defensive when he said United States President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair had lied about Iraq.
Mugabe said the two superpowers were “liars” and “criminals” and must stand before the International Court of Justice.
The embassy also accused Information Minister Jonathan Moyo of dishing “out a steady stream of vitriol replete with broad-gauge attacks on the US, racial slurs, criticism of the US operation in Iraq” and claims that the US was seeking African resources.
Full cable:
Viewing cable 03HARARE1362, MUGABE LAUNCHES RHETORICAL DEFENSE AGAINST VISIT
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
070857Z Jul 03
C O N F I D E N T I A L HARARE 001362
SIPDIS
OPSCENTER PASS TO POTUS PARTY
DAKAR AND PRETORIA FOR A/S KANSTEINER
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/07/2008
SUBJECT: MUGABE LAUNCHES RHETORICAL DEFENSE AGAINST VISIT
OF PRESIDENT BUSH: US COUNTER-POINTS
REF: A. (A) FBIS RESTON AFP20030707000114
¶B. (B) FBIS RESTON FBIS RESTON 20030704000061
Classified By: JOSEPH G. SULLIVAN FOR REASONS 1.5B/D
1.(u) The GOZ and President Mugabe have sought to send out
several messages in advance of President Bush’s visit to
Africa and anticipated pressure on the Mugabe regime. The
state media, led by Information Minister Jonathan Moyo, has
dished out a steady stream of vitriol replete with
broad-gauge attacks on the US, racial slurs, criticism of the
US operation in Iraq, claims that the US was seeking African
resources or to prevent land redistribution to indigenous
Zimbabweans and arguments based on national sovereignty.
Mugabe sought to downplay the importance and risks for the
GOZ of President Bush’s visit by telling a ZANU-PF Central
Committee meeting last Thursday that the USG would never
attempt what it had in Iraq (ref b). But by Sunday, Mugabe
told a mystified rural crowd that President Bush and Prime
Minister Blair had lied on Iraq, were “liars” and “criminals”
and must stand before the International Court of Justice(ref
a). He went on to say that President Bush was not welcome
in Africa if he sought to interfere in internal African
affairs, that South Africa would tell him that, and that
Mugabe supported those in South Africa who were protesting
President Bush’s visit. While this story was featured on
Sunday state television news, it had disappeared from
Monday’s state radio and newspaper coverage, as if someone
had second thoughts about publicizing Mugabe’s harsh language.
2.(c) The GOZ lines of defense are obvious: national
sovereignty, interference in African and Zimbabwean affairs,
and claims that the US is acting to prevent distribution of
land from white farmers to landless blacks. We can preempt
these defenses by making the following points:
— the US seeks to give the Zimbabwean people the right to
choose its own leadership in free and fair elections,
something they were not given in the 2002 elections;
— the US defends the human and civil rights of all
Zimbabweans; it is the black majority which has suffered most
from human rights abuses and poor governance;
— the US has always supported land redistribution designed
to benefit Zimbabwe’s poor, something the Mugabe regime’s
land reform has not done;
— the Mugabe land redistribution and economic policies have
failed the basic test of governance by creating the
conditions in which Zimbabweans are no longer able to feed
themselves.
In response to the corollary point made by the GOZ and some
South Africans that Zimbabweans must be left to solve
their problems themselves, the counter is that
— the GOZ and ZANU-PF have declined to engage in any serious
dialogue since initially agreeing to an agenda for dialogue
in May of 2002.
SULLIVAN
(30 VIEWS)
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