President Robert Mugabe walked out of a meeting with a European Union delegation when they asked about election observers for the 2002 presidential elections saying they should leave Zimbabwe alone because it was capable of conducting elections on its own.
Mugabe is reported to have said something along the lines: “We don’t need your help; we don’t want you to organize our elections. Leave us alone.”
He is also reported to have remarked that former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was “a lady you can talk to”.
A visibly irritated Mugabe is then reported to have stood up and left the room, with not a word or handshake leaving the EU delegation “flabbergasted”.
Full cable:
Viewing cable 01HARARE3539, PRESIDENT MUGABE WALKS OUT ON EU TEAM
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261252Z Nov 01
CONFIDENTIAL PTQ1356
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FM AMEMBASSY HARARE
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0368
INFO NSC WASHDC IMMEDIATE
SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
AMEMBASSY NAIROBI
AMEMBASSY OSLO
AMEMBASSY STOCKHOLM
AMEMBASSY CANBERRA
AMEMBASSY OTTAWA
AMEMBASSY KINGSTON
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 HARARE 003539
SIPDIS
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR JENDAYI FRAZER
BRUSSELS ALSO FOR USEU
LONDON FOR GURNEY
PARIS FOR NEARY
NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER
E.O. 12958: DECL. 11/26/11
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT MUGABE WALKS OUT ON EU TEAM
CLASSIFIED BY POLITICAL SECTION CHIEF MATT HARRINGTON. REASONS:
1.5 (B) AND (D).
SUMMARY
——-
¶1. (C) A SENIOR EU TEAM HAD A VERY ROCKY MEETING WITH PRESIDENT
MUGABE ON NOVEMBER 23. THE PARTICIPANTS ENGAGED IN A NORMAL
DIPLOMATIC DISCUSSION OF THE DRC INTERNAL DIALOGUE AND THE
INVOLVEMENT OF FOREIGN TROOPS IN DRC, BUT MUGABE BECAME
INCREASINGLY IRRITATED AS THE CONVERSATION SHIFTED TO THE RECENT
UN REPORT ON EXPLOITATION OF RESOURCES. MUGABE DISMISSED THE
REPORT AS “ABSOLUTE NONSENSE” INSPIRED BY THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT.
EVERYTHING ZIMBABWE HAD DONE IN THE DRC, HE INSISTED, HAD BEEN
DONE IN COOPERATION WITH THE KINSHASA GOVERNMENT. WHEN THE EU
DELEGATION PRESSED THE IMPORTANCE OF INTERNATIONAL ELECTION
OBSERVERS PARTICIPATING IN ZIMBABWE’S ELECTORAL PROCESS, MUGABE
LASHED OUT. HE SAID THE EU SHOULD LEAVE ZIMBABWE ALONE, AS THE
GOZ COULD RUN ITS OWN ELECTION. IT DID NOT NEED THE EU’S HELP.
VISIBLY ANGRY, HE WALKED OUT OF THE MEETING WITHOUT A WORD,
LEAVING HIS EU INTERLOCUTORS “FLABBERGASTED.” THE EU OFFICIALS
DID NOT EVEN TRY TO PUT A POSITIVE PUBLIC SPIN ON THE ENCOUNTER
AND LATER TOLD JOURNALISTS THAT THEY HAD NOT HAD A MEETING OF THE
MINDS WITH MUGABE AND THAT THE EU WOULD NOT RECOGNIZE THE OUTCOME
OF THE ELECTION UNLESS MINIMUM CONDITIONS WERE RESPECTED. FOR ITS
PART, THE GOVERNMENT-CONTROLLED PRESS APPLAUDED MUGABE IN BANNER,
ABOVE-THE-FOLD HEADLINES FOR TELLING OFF THE EU. END SUMMARY.
CONFIDENTIAL
PAGE 03 HARARE 03539 01 OF 03 261353Z
¶2. (C) BELGIAN DCM ALEXIS DE CROMBRUGGHE GAVE POLITICAL SECTION
CHIEF A READOUT OF A DIFFICULT NOVEMBER 23 MEETING IN HARARE
BETWEEN PRESIDENT MUGABE AND A HIGH-LEVEL EU DELEGATION COMPRISING
BELGIAN DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER AND FOREIGN MINISTER LOUIS MICHEL,
EU ENVOY JAVIER SOLANA, COMMISSIONER CHRIS PATTEN, EU SPECIAL
ENVOY FOR THE GREAT LAKES ALDO AIELLO AND SPAIN’S DIRECTOR-GENERAL
FOR AFRICA. CROMBRUGGHE SAID THE DELEGATION MET WITH CIVIL
SOCIETY REPRESENTATIVES AND WITH OPPOSITION LEADER MORGAN
TSVANGIRAI, BUT THE MEETING WITH MUGABE WAS THE CENTERPIECE OF
SIPDIS
THEIR ONE-DAY VISIT AND THE ONE WHICH GARNERED THE MOST MEDIA
ATTENTION.
¶3. (C) CROMBRUGGHE SAID ONLY THE BELGIAN AMBASSADOR JOINED THE
FIVE-PERSON EU DELEGATION IN THE MUGABE MEETING. THE ZIMBABWEAN
PRESIDENT WAS JOINED BY FOREIGN MINISTER MUDENGE, MFA PERMANENT
SECRETARY WILLARD CHIWEWE, DEFENSE MINISTER SEKERAMAYI, AND CHIEF
SIPDIS
OF DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE GENERAL CHEDONDO.
DRC
—
¶4. (C) ACCORDING TO CROMBRUGGHE, MICHEL BEGAN BY SAYING THE MAIN
PURPOSE OF THE DELEGATION’S VISIT WAS TO DISCUSS DEVELOPMENTS IN
THE DRC, BUT THAT IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO AVOID RAISING THE DOMESTIC
SITUATION IN ZIMBABWE AS WELL. HIS INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
APPARENTLY PROVOKED NO NEGATIVE REACTION FROM THE ZIMBABWEAN SIDE,
AND PRESIDENT MUGABE WAS DIPLOMATIC AND FORTHCOMING AT THE OUTSET.
MUGABE STAYED TRUE TO FORM BY PROVIDING HIS DETAILED HISTORICAL
PERSPECTIVE ON ZIMBABWE’S INVOLVEMENT IN THE DRC, EMPHASIZING THAT
HIS GOVERNMENT HAD BEEN INVITED IN.
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PAGE 04 HARARE 03539 01 OF 03 261353Z
WITHDRAWAL OF FOREIGN FORCES
—————————-
¶5. (C) MUGABE STRESSED THE GOZ’S COMMITMENT TO THE LUSAKA
PROCESS, BUT WARNED THAT A WITHDRAWAL BY ZIMBABWEAN FORCES NOW
WOULD CREATE SECURITY PROBLEMS. THUS ZIMBABWE WOULD WAIT TO
WITHDRAW UNTIL THE UNITED NATIONS DEPLOYED FULLY. WHEN SOLANA
PRESSED HARD FOR THE WITHDRAWAL OF FOREIGN TROOPS, MUGABE SAID
TROOPS CAN BE WITHDRAWN AT ANY TIME BUT REITERATED THAT THIS STEP
SHOULD HINGE UPON THE CREATION OF A SUFFICIENTLY SECURE
ENVIRONMENT. MICHEL SAID HE WAS NOT SURE THAT MONUC WOULD BE ABLE
TO DEPLOY THE LARGE NUMBERS DESIRED BY MUGABE BUT THAT HE HOPED
DDRR COULD PROCEED IN THE MEANTIME. MUGABE MAINTAINED THAT
ZIMBABWEAN TROOPS HAVE COMPLIED WITH THE REQUIREMENT TO WITHDRAW
15 KM FROM THE FRONT LINE, IN CONTRAST TO RWANDA, WHICH HAD MERELY
REPLACED ITS SOLDIERS WITH FIGHTERS FROM RCD-GOMA. MUDENGE INSISTED
THAT ZIMBABWE WOULD NOT MAINTAIN ITS MILITARY PRESENCE IN THE DRC
ANY LONGER THAN NECESSARY BECAUSE OF THE EXPENSE.
INTERNAL DIALOGUE
—————–
CONFIDENTIAL
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O 261252Z NOV 01
FM AMEMBASSY HARARE
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0369
INFO NSC WASHDC IMMEDIATE
SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
AMEMBASSY NAIROBI
AMEMBASSY OSLO
AMEMBASSY STOCKHOLM
AMEMBASSY CANBERRA
AMEMBASSY OTTAWA
AMEMBASSY KINGSTON
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 02 OF 03 HARARE 003539
SIPDIS
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR JENDAYI FRAZER
BRUSSELS ALSO FOR USEU
LONDON FOR GURNEY
PARIS FOR NEARY
NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER
CONFIDENTIAL
PAGE 02 HARARE 03539 02 OF 03 261353Z
E.O. 12958: DECL. 11/26/11
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT MUGABE WALKS OUT ON EU TEAM
¶6. (C) MICHEL REGRETTED THE FAILURE OF THE INITIAL INTERNAL
DIALOGUE MEETING IN ADDIS ABABA, BUT REPORTED THAT PRESIDENT
KABILA AND FACILITATOR MASIRE HAD AGREED WITH HIM IN KINSHASA ON
THE NEED FOR ANOTHER MEETING SOON, BUT ONE THAT WOULD BE PRECEDED
BY SMALLER, PREPARATORY DISCUSSIONS. AIELLO SAID THE EU
RECOGNIZED THAT PRESIDENT KABILA WOULD BE PRESIDENT DURING A
TRANSITION PERIOD LEADING TO ELECTIONS, BUT NOTED THAT, IN SOME
COUNTRIES, A TRANSITION PERIOD FOLLOWED AN ELECTION. PATTEN ADDED
THAT THERE WAS AGREEMENT WITHIN THE EU THAT KABILA SHOULD LEAD THE
TRANSITIONAL PERIOD, AND MICHEL SAID HE THOUGHT THE REBELS WOULD
ACCEPT THIS. MUGABE ASSERTED THAT PRESIDENT KABILA RISKS BEING
TOPPLED IF THE TRANSITION PERIOD COMES FIRST, BUT SAID THAT
DECISION IS UP TO THE CONGOLESE PEOPLE. HE HOPED THAT MASIRE
WOULD MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS ON THIS POINT.
UN REPORT ON EXPLOITATION OF RESOURCES
————————————–
¶7. (C) WHEN MICHEL SOLICITED MUGABE’S COMMENT ON THE RECENT UN
REPORT ON THE EXPLOITATION OF RESOURCES IN THE DRC, THE
CONVERSATION BEGAN TO GO DOWNHILL QUICKLY, CROMBRUGGHE REPORTED.
MUGABE CALLED THE REPORT “ABSOLUTE NONSENSE,” SAYING EVERYTHING
ZIMBABWE HAD DONE IN THE DRC HAD BEEN DONE IN CONSULTATION WITH
THE KINSHASA GOVERNMENT. THE DRC GOVERNMENT, HE INSISTED, HAD
NEVER COMPLAINED ABOUT ZIMBABWE’S INVOLVEMENT. HE DISMISSED THE
REPORT COMPLETELY, SAYING IT HAD BEEN INSTIGATED BY THE BRITISH.
THE EU TEAM, MUGABE SAID, WAS PUTTING ITS CREDIBILITY ON THE LINE
CONFIDENTIAL
PAGE 03 HARARE 03539 02 OF 03 261353Z
BY EVEN MENTIONING IT. MUDENGE ADDED THAT THE REPORT HAD NOT BEEN
ENDORSED BY THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL. SOLANA EMPHASIZED THAT THE
REPORT EXPRESSED THE POSITION OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY. NO,
IT DOESN’T, MUGABE REPLIED, IT EXPRESSES ONLY THE POSITION OF THE
BRITISH GOVERNMENT.
ELECTION OBSERVERS
——————
¶8. (C) MICHEL THEN RAISED THE ISSUE OF INTERNATIONAL ELECTION
OBSERVERS, ELICITING A “VERY AGGRESSIVE” REACTION FROM MUGABE,
ACCORDING TO CROMBRUGGHE. MUGABE’S RESPONSE WAS ALONG THE LINES
OF “WE DON’T NEED YOUR HELP, WE DON’T WANT YOU TO ORGANIZE OUR
ELECTIONS. LEAVE US ALONE.” HE THEN ADDED, SOMEWHAT CRYPTICALLY,
THAT MARGARET THATCHER WAS “A LADY YOU CAN TALK TO.” MUDENGE
RAISED A POINT OF ORDER, NOTING THAT THE BELGIANS, IN THE NOTE
REQUESTING THE MEETING, HAD INDICATED THAT THE DELEGATION ONLY
INTENDED TO DISCUSS THE DRC. AT THAT POINT, A VISIBLY IRRITATED
MUGABE STOOD UP AND LEFT THE ROOM, WITH NARY A WORD OR HANDSHAKE.
THE EU DELEGATION WAS APPARENTLY “FLABBERGASTED,” AND MICHEL
COMMENTED PRIVATELY TO THE BELGIAN AMBASSADOR THAT MUGABE’S
REACTION HAD BEEN OVER THE TOP AND IRRATIONAL. MUDENGE APPEARED
TO HAVE BEEN TAKEN BY SURPRISE BY HIS BOSS’S UNEXPECTED WITHDRAWAL
FROM THE ROOM, AND SAID QUICKLY TO THE DELEGATION THAT THE GOZ
WOULD PARTICIPATE IN THE ARTICLE 96 DIALOGUE. LATER IN THE DAY, A
SENIOR MFA OFFICIAL PHONED THE BELGIAN EMBASSY TO CONVEY
OFFICIALLY THE GOZ’S AGREEMENT TO PARTICIPATE IN THE ARTICLE 96
PROCESS.
PRESS CONFERENCE
—————-
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PAGE 04 HARARE 03539 02 OF 03 261353Z
¶9. (C) CROMBRUGGHE SAID HE HAD ARRANGED A PRESS CONFERENCE IN THE
VIP DEPARTURE LOUNGE LATER IN THE DAY, BUT MINISTRY OF INFORMATION
OFFICIALS INITIALLY PROHIBITED THE PARTICIPATION OF JOURNALISTS
FROM THE INDEPENDENT PRESS. ONLY AFTER HE INSISTED THAT THEY BE
ADMITTED AND PERSONALLY ESCORTED THEM FROM A HOLDING ROOM AT THE
OTHER END OF THE AIRPORT WERE THEY ABLE TO INTERACT WITH MEMBERS
OF THE DELEGATION. THE EU OFFICIALS WERE UNUSUALLY CANDID WITH
THE REPORTERS, SAYING THAT THE TALKS WITH MUGABE HAD BEEN “VERY
FRANK AND VERY DIFFICULT.” SOLANA TOLD JOURNALISTS THAT “WE PUT
IT CLEARLY TO HIM THAT UNLESS THEY COMPLY WITH THE MINIMUM
CONDITIONS FOR THE RUNNING OF THE ELECTIONS, IT WILL BE VERY
DIFFICULT FOR THE ELECTION RESULTS TO BE RECOGNIZED BY THE EU.”
MICHEL SAID THE TEAM WANTED TO HAVE A FRANK DISCUSSION WITH MUGABE
BUT THAT “TODAY, IT WAS NOT EASY TO DO.” PATTEN ADDED THAT “ALL I
CAN SAY IS WE DID NOT HAVE A MEETING OF THE MINDS WITH PRESIDENT
MUGABE” AND THAT THE EU WOULD “INSIST ON THE BASIC MINIMUM
STANDARDS FOR CLEAN ELECTIONS.”
¶10. (U) NOT SURPRISINGLY, THE GOVERNMENT-CONTROLLED MEDIA PRAISED
MUGABE FOR STANDING UP TO HIS INTERLOCUTORS, INDICATED BY THE
ABOVE-THE-FOLD HEADLINE IN NOVEMBER 24 EDITION OF “THE HERALD” —
“PRESIDENT TELLS EU OFF.” THE ARTICLE REPORTED THAT MUGABE HAD
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——————4317B1 261354Z /48
O 261252Z NOV 01
FM AMEMBASSY HARARE
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0370
INFO NSC WASHDC IMMEDIATE
SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
AMEMBASSY NAIROBI
AMEMBASSY OSLO
AMEMBASSY STOCKHOLM
AMEMBASSY CANBERRA
AMEMBASSY OTTAWA
AMEMBASSY KINGSTON
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 03 OF 03 HARARE 003539
SIPDIS
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR JENDAYI FRAZER
BRUSSELS ALSO FOR USEU
LONDON FOR GURNEY
PARIS FOR NEARY
NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER
CONFIDENTIAL
PAGE 02 HARARE 03539 03 OF 03 261354Z
E.O. 12958: DECL. 11/26/11
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT MUGABE WALKS OUT ON EU TEAM
TOLD THE DELEGATION TO “KEEP OUT OF ZIMBABWE’S AFFAIRS” AND THAT
HE HAD DISMISSED AS “ABSOLUTELY NONSENSICAL” THE UN SECURITY
COUNCIL’S RECENT REPORT ON ZIMBABWE’S EXPLOITATION OF DRC
RESOURCES. AT A PUBLIC EVENT FOLLOWING THE FATEFUL MEETING,
MUGABE TOLD THE ASSEMBLED CROWD THAT THE EU SHOULD KEEP OUT OF
ZIMBABWE, AS “SOME OF THEM WERE OUR FORMER COLONIZERS. WE HAVE
ENOUGH EXPERIENCE IN HOLDING ELECTIONS AND WE DO NOT NEED THEIR
ASSISTANCE.”
COMMENT
——-
¶11. (C) PRESIDENT MUGABE’S ANGRY REACTION APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN
DISPROPORTIONATE, AND SUGGESTS THAT HE IS NOT INTERESTED IN
ENGAGING THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY ON HOW TO EXTRICATE ZIMBABWE
FROM ITS CURRENT CRISIS, IF SUCH ENGAGEMENT IMPLIES ANY ACCEPTANCE
OF RESPONSIBILITY FOR HIS COUNTRY’S PROBLEMS. THE NOVEMBER 23
EXCHANGE WILL LIKELY WORSEN AN ALREADY STRAINED EU-ZIMBABWE
RELATIONSHIP, BUT MUGABE SEEMS INCREASINGLY WILLING TO WAG HIS
FINGER — WHICHEVER FINGER — AT THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY.
MUDENGE, WHO IS OFTEN ONE OF THE GOZ’S MOST STRIDENT VOICES, WAS
APPARENTLY NONPLUSSED BY HIS BOSS’S BEHAVIOR, AND THE GOZ’S QUICK
ACCEPTANCE OF THE ARTICLE 96 DIALOGUE SO SOON AFTER THE
UNFORTUNATE MEETING WAS A CLEAR ATTEMPT AT DAMAGE CONTROL. WE ARE
COMING TO THE CONCLUSION, HOWEVER, THAT AS LONG AS MUGABE REMAINS
THE GOZ’S ONLY REAL DECISION-MAKER, WE ARE UNLIKELY TO SEE MUCH
PROGRESS ON THE ISSUES OF CONCERN TO US, THE EU, THE COMMONWEALTH,
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PAGE 03 HARARE 03539 03 OF 03 261354Z
AND ZIMBABWE’S NEIGHBORS.
SULLIVAN
CONFIDENTIAL
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