(HERALD) ‘Zim prepared for showdown’

‘Zim prepared for showdown’
Herald Reporter

BRITAIN is plotting with Nordic countries to get Zimbabwe on the agenda of the European Union-Africa Summit in Portugal next month, but Harare has said it is prepared for any showdown, according to sources. It is understood that London is taking this route as a face saver after failing to have President Mugabe barred from the meeting.

Diplomatic sources said a campaign to put Zimbabwe on the agenda of the summit is underway with ambassadors of Nordic countries in Harare co-ordinating the scheme alongside the opposition MDC and civic society.

The conspiracy involves building up allegations of State-sponsored violence against the Zimbabwe Government and reviving calls to try those accused of being responsible for the disturbances in Matabeleland and Midlands in the 1980s in international courts.

Swedish ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Sten Rylander has since July been on an anti-Zimbabwe crusade.

During his summer holiday in July, Mr Rylander flew home and held a number of interviews with the Swedish radio and television attacking Zimbabwe for alleged human rights violations, State-sponsored violence and suppression of democratic space.

Last month, he took his campaign to an end of year review meeting of the Zimbabwe United Nations Development Assistance Fund in Nyanga.

At the meeting, the ambassador alleged that the Government was sponsoring violence against the opposition but did not substantiate his claims.

Heads of Government departments attended the meeting, which affords Zimbabwe, as a member of the United Nations, an opportunity to give a priority list of its development projects for funding by donors who support the UN.

This prompted the Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Dr Misheck Sibanda to write to the United Nations Development Programme resident representative Dr Agostinho Zacarias registering Zimbabwe’s displeasure about Mr Rylander’s conduct.

"It was unfortunate that such an allegation was made at the ZUNDAF meeting which to me is a development forum not a political one. The ambassador could surely have addressed his concerns with the appropriate authorities, that is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"For him to throw his salvo at the Govern-ment of Zimbabwe in a development forum, is not only discourteous but also undiplomatic.

"These are serious allegations he is making against a sovereign state. He therefore needs to substantiate them," wrote Dr Sibanda, in the letter dated November 7, 2007.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Mr Rylander on the same day to substanti- ate the claims he made at the ZUNDAF meeting.

Head of the Europe and Americas division in the Ministry, Ambassador Ngoni Sengwe, challenged the ambassador to present evidence to prove his claims.

Mr Rylander cited a demarche (a formal diplomatic representation of one government’s official position, views, or wishes on a given subject to an appropriate official in another government) the EU sent to the Government in August listing cases of alleged violence against the opposition.

But Ambassador Sengwe said the demarche did not refer to current events, which Mr Rylander had alluded to.

The Swedish diplomat pointed out that his source was the Zimbabwe Human Rights Lawyers’ Association, an anti-Government body.

Ambassador Sengwe questioned the credibility of Mr Rylander’s sources and queried the motive of his statement when the opposition MDC had just had a meeting with Home Affairs Minister Cde Kembo Mohadi and did not produce evidence of its violence claims.

"He wondered why the Swedish ambassador would be the activist for the MDC when the MDC itself had not tabled the issue of violence," a source who attended the meeting said.

Mr Rylander undertook to bring "concrete evidence" of the alleged violence.

It has since emerged that the cases cited by Mr Rylander were similar to those contained in a report produced two weeks after his claims by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum.

Zimbabwean authorities believe there is a campaign to put Zimbabwe on the agenda of the summit as a face saver for the British.

But Harare has said it is not afraid to fight in defence of its sovereignty and reputation.

"If they dare play Britain’s cat pawl, they are likely to get one outcome, namely a repeat of the 2002 Johannesburg World Earth summit (where President Mugabe boldly told then British Prime Minister Tony Blair to stay out of Zimbabwe’s issues). Zimbabwe does not shy away from a fight especially where it is right," said a Government official.

The Herald is reliably informed that British authorities were also using some African leaders to persuade Prime Minister Gordon Brown to attend the summit.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has urged Mr Brown to drop his threat to boycott the summit.

"We hope that (Brown) will change his position and we hope that he will be there," she was quoted as saying by the British Daily Mail on Monday.

Sources said Mr Brown would then attend the summit on the pretext of responding to calls by some African leaders.