Zimbabwe's ruling party has reacted angrily to a call by US Secretary of State Colin Powell for the urgent removal of President Robert Mugabe and his "cronies".
| Colin can't say it, 'cuz he's a diplomat, so I'll say it for him: "React and be damned." |
The official Herald newspaper on Thursday reported that Minister of State for Information Jonathan Moyo had called Powell's statements false, and linked the US call for a regime change in Zimbabwe to its invasion of Iraq. "The use of lies and deception by Powell and [US President George W] Bush has not worked in Iraq, where he wanted to mix it with oil. It will never, ever work anywhere else, and will certainly not mix with land in Zimbabwe," Moyo was quoted as saying.
| "Lookitdat! My lips are moving, words are coming out, but they don't make any sense!" |
Powell wrote in the New York Times this week that Mugabe's government held a "monopoly of coercive power, but no legitimacy or moral authority". He also put pressure on Zimbabwe's neighbours to become more active on the issue. "South Africa and other African countries are increasingly concerned and active on Zimbabwe, but they can and should play a stronger and more sustained role that fully reflects the urgency of Zimbabwe's crisis," Powell wrote. He placed the blame for Zimbabwe's current political and economic woes on Mugabe's regime and warned that a deterioration of the situation in that country would threaten the region.
| Fairly succinct statement of the obvious. And the rejoinder is... |
However, regional power-house South Africa on Thursday maintained that it was only the people of Zimbabwe who could find a solution to the country's problems, South Africa's Independent Newspapers group reported.
| "And they're all in jail, so don't expect anything from there. The status will remain quo." |
South African government spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa was quoted as saying that South Africa would resist efforts to impose a solution on Zimbabwe. This view was echoed by Moyo. "We in ZANU-PF have always held that we are our own liberators, first politically, and now economically," he was reported as saying in the Herald.
Its actually no skin off our collective fore if Zim does "liberate" itself "economically," so all Powell's really doing is expressing an opinion. They really don't have to worry about being invaded unless they're providing safe haven to al-Qaeda or a similar knock-off.
The fact that the country used to be the "Breadbasket of Africa" and now they'll lining up with all the other failed states when the groceries are handed out really has nothing to do with us — their thump is not our bruise. It's only the fact that we find rule by bully boys in the service of blantant kleptocrats morally distasteful that causes us to have any opinion at all. That's why we're not going to do anything about Zim except hope it's all over soon. And the very same thing applies to Liberia, Niger, Ivory Coast, and a host of other countries. Sudan, Somalia, Djibouti and Eritrea are a different story... |
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