President Robert Mugabe is reported to have warned the United States and Britain not to invade Zimbabwe saying it would be their children who would die first.
“Zvavakaita kuIraq havangambozviedza muno. Anotanga kufa vana vavo muno,” he is reported to have said in Shona meaning they can never try to do what they did in Iraq because it is their children here who will die first.
Full cable:
Viewing cable 03HARARE1467, MEDIA REPORT U. S./ ZIM RELATIONS; HARARE
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UNCLAS HARARE 001467
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR AF/PDPA FOR DALTON, MITCHELL AND SIMS
NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER
LONDON FOR GURNEY
PARIS FOR NEARY
NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER
E.O. 12958: N/A
SUBJECT: MEDIA REPORT U. S./ ZIM RELATIONS; HARARE
¶1. Back-to-back leading articles in the July 20 and 21
editions of the independent weekly “The Daily News
on Sunday” and its sister daily “The Daily News,”
respectively, focus on the failing relations between
the United States and Zimbabwe. Excerpts follow:
¶2. The July 20 edition of the independent weekly “The
Daily News on Sunday” focuses on an eerie blackmail
statement by Robert Mugabe in which he warns the
United States and the United Kingdom against
invading Zimbabwe, saying if attacked “it will be
their children who will be the first to die.” Under
headline “Mugabe warns U. S.: `Attack us, we will
kill your children'” Godwin Mangudya, Senior
Reporter, reports:
“As the U. S. and British pressure mounted on
President Robert Mugabe to step down a fortnight
ago, he told his supporters the children of the two
countries’ citizens in Zimbabwe would be the first
to die if they invaded this country as they did in
Iraq. Mugabe, facing political and economic
turmoil, said Zimbabwe was ready to retaliate if the
¶U. S. and the UK, implacable critics of his
government’s skewed policies, deployed their
soldiers here to throw him out of power as they did
Saddam Hussein. Mugabe said in Shona: `Zvavakaita
kuIraq havangambozviedza muno. Anotanga kufa vana
vavo muno. (They will never attempt to do here what
they did in Iraq because it is their children who
will be the first to die.)’ He gave the warning at
a political rally in the Chivi South constituency in
Masvingo. . .The speech stunned many supporters, but
was not given prominence in the government media.
The privately owned media picked it up only after
being alerted by those who attended the rally. The
exact quotation was transcribed from a tape of the
speech made available to `The Daily News.’ Mugabe
did not elaborate on how the American and British
children would die. . . .”
¶3. President George W. Bush’s inclusion of Zimbabwe among
rogue states in a proclamation issued to mark “Captive
Nations Week,” made the lead story in the July 21 edition
of the independent daily “The Daily News.” Excerpts of
the article, picked from the South African-based News24
channel, follow:
“President George W. Bush on Friday hit out at six
regimes on a United States blacklist he said was
guilty of oppression and human rights abuses in
Myanmar, Iran, Cuba, North Korea, Zimbabwe and
Belarus. . .There were also harsh words for North
Korea, with which Washington has been locked in a
nuclear weapons showdown since October. . .”
`Violence, corruption, and mismanagement reign in
Zimbabwe. . .University of Zimbabwe (UZ) political
scientist Eldred Masinungure said Bush’s listing of
Zimbabwe among the rogue states such as Myanmar was
a sign of `the U. S.’s anxiety for a solution over
Zimbabwe’s slide into absolute authoritarian
rule. . . .”
SULLIVAN
(26 VIEWS)
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