Maravi

(HERALD) China, Russia: True all-weather friends

China, Russia: True all-weather friends
By Stephen T. Maimbodei

Last Friday was probably one of the darkest days in British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s life since he engaged in his war against President Mugabe. Whitehall is overwhelmed with the post-mortem on how the whole British political system could have been dealt such a double blow by China and Russia. Just a few days earlier at the G8 summit, Brown was brimming with overconfidence. Together with US President George W. Bush, they believed that they had found the winning formula in their illegal regime change quest: more sanctions against Zimbabwe.

They did not want to repeat the Iraq mistake and therefore the "blessing" was going to come from the UN Security Council. However, the United States-sponsored sanctions resolution against Zimbabwe was ill-fated from the very beginning.

There were too many issues at stake for the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — the US, Britain, France, Russia and China — some of which were not necessarily related to Zimbabwe.

The unprocedural manner in which the draft resolution was introduced raised eyebrows among diplomats in the world body.

When the United States introduced the resolution, it hit a snag.

Six of the 15 Security Council members did not support it and two of them — Russia and China — were veto-wielding permanent members.

Others who opposed the draft were South Africa, Vietnam, Indonesia and Libya, all developing nations and members of the Non-Aligned Movement.

The so-called punitive sanctions that the West sought to impose were supposed to be punitive measures against the June 27 presidential poll.

The West inexplicably still maintains that the inconclusive March 29 result was final.

But the sane world argued that Zimbabwe did not constitute a threat to international peace and security.

They also argued that the West was trying to internationalise a bilateral matter between Zimbabwe and former coloniser Britain.

China argued that passage of the resolution would have exceeded the UN’s mandate while South Africa pointed out that it was mediating talks between the major political parties in Zimbabwe.

Russia also contended that the passage of the resolution would have set a dangerous precedent for the world body.

But the US, Britain and their allies were blind to all these warnings.

However, what surprises the developing world and Africa in particular is that the US flagrantly disregarded the resolution made by African leaders in Egypt.

The actions of the US and the UK reinforced the belief that not only economic, technological and military power are at the core of the operations of the UN, but also that race is now a major factor in the manner in which the world body approaches global issues.

Zimbabwe consequently applauded Russia and China, and the other Security Council members, who supported the country last week.

That the discussions had been allowed to take place was not only anomalous, but it was an act that set a very dangerous precedent in the world body.

The African Union had decided on how engagement should proceed, but before that action had been tried and tested, it was usurped by dollar and military might.

We have all along suspected that apart from the Zimbabwe issue being a bilateral issue between Britain and Zimbabwe, the Anglo-Saxon/racial mix is a major factor.

Zimbabweans, who are currently looking forward to the speedy and successful conclusion of the inter-party talks, would want to see this process followed to its logical conclusion.

They also trust South Africa’s President Thabo Mbeki, who was given the mandate by Sadc and the AU to mediate in the talks, understands the issues on the ground and can bring the best result that Zimbabweans and Africa expect.

While Brown still wants to take the Zimbabwe issue to his Western eco-political clubs, it is interesting to note the backlash that Russia, China and President Mbeki are getting from the Anglo-Saxon nations.

The United States made a scathing attack on President Mbeki.

Russia was accused of being an unreliable G8 partner because it argued that it was wrong to meddle in Zimbabwe’s internal affairs.

Despite the arrogance that this draft resolution revealed, it was also clear that the Anglo-Saxon world does not wish to see the Zimbabwean matter resolved by Africans.

However, the Russian and Chinese positions are not new.

The Soviet government took a position soon after Rhodesian rebel leader Ian Smith declared the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965.

This was a statement made at the height of the Cold War, when the West had blacklisted communism and regarded it as evil, as they still do.

Russia stood by the people of Zimbabwe and when it was evident that Ian Smith would not go back on UDI, and the nationalists realised that the only way out was an armed struggle, both Russia and China lent not only material, financial and moral support, but they stood by the people of Zimbabwe until they defeated the colonial system, and gained independence in 1980.

Many of the cadres who fought the settler colonialist system received top of the range training in the Soviet Union and China.

They had the moral vision of seeing that African nations suffering under colonial subjugation should not only be independent on paper, but rather that they should be sovereign and have total control of their resources.

The West continues to hoodwink the world into believing that President Mugabe is the problem, when in effect land is the core issue.

It has also hoodwinked its kith and kin into ignoring the fact that Britain failed to meet its obligations and compensate white farmers whose land was lawfully taken by the Zimbabweans.

If the heir to the British throne, the Prince of Wales, on June 10, 2008 paid off a 350-year-old debt (£453,15, minus interest), left by his ancestor King Charles II to a clothing company, Clothiers Company of Worcester, why should the Blair/Brown government refuse to fulfil their obligations?

According to media reports, the company had never forgotten that the Royal Family owed them money after King Charles II failed to pay when he commissioned them to make uniforms for his troops in 1651.

As he presented the money Prince Charles said: "It seems that members of the Clothiers Company have a long memory."

Likewise, Zimbabweans never forgot that land was the central issue in the Zimbabwe equation, and neither will we ever do so.

The manner in which the West is treating the Zimbabwe matter and the manner in which they have armtwisted other members of the UN shows the paucity of moral values in the West.

But at this crucial moment, China and Russia have risen to the occasion the same way they did after UDI.

Last week Zimbabwe was again at the crossroads, its old friends China and Russia did what friends who understand the depth of the issue at hand could only do.

They vetoed the fast-tracked resolution.

Russia, even in its time as Soviet Union, has never wavered in its support for Zimbabwe.

We reproduce here, a statement issued by the Soviet government in 1965.

Soviet Government Statement:

The Situation in Southern Rhodesia, November 15, 1965

"The colonialists have committed a new crime against the African peoples. On November 11 the racialist régime of Ian Smith proclaimed the "independence" of Southern Rhodesia. These actions are aimed at perpetuating in Southern Rhodesia a colonial system based on inhuman oppression of the Zimbabwe people, four million strong, by a handful of racialists and on ruthless suppression of the just struggle of this people for real independence, freedom and social justice . . .

"The South Rhodesian racialists would not have dared to carry out their criminal plans without a deal with the colonialists, who have permitted the racialist régime in Salisbury to acquire economic and military strength and who have rendered it all-out support.

"Nor could this crime have taken place without the blessing of the governments of other Nato countries, and in the first place the United States of America.

"The creation of yet another centre of racialism — this time in Southern Rhodesia — is part of the overall plan of imperialist circles to erect an obstacle in the way, of the national liberation movement of the African peoples, the waves of which are drawing nearer and nearer to the last bulwarks of colonialism

"The Soviet government fully shares the view of the independent African states, expressed in decisions of the Organisation of African Unity, that the ruling circles of Britain will never be able to escape responsibility for this crime against the African peoples, for the national tragedy of the Zimbabwe people, who for many, years now have been waging a stubborn struggle for their rights.

"At the present time the government of Great Britain, in words, is condemning the actions of the South Rhodesian authorities and is asking the Security Council to examine the question of Southern Rhodesia. It is clear, however, that these statements of the British government are at present only an attempt to whitewash its actual policy.

"As long ago as 1961, having put into effect a ‘constitution’ worked out by the British government itself which formalised the racialist system, Britain laid the foundations for the present régime of the racialists' colonial rule over millions of Africans.

"Following that, she armed the South Rhodesian racialists and helped them to consolidate their positions by encouraging the colonial alliance of Southern Rhodesia with the racialist régime in the Republic of South Africa and the Portuguese colonialists in Angola and Mozambique.

"As a result, Southern Rhodesia turned into a police state, into a land of jails, concentration camps and terror for the African population of the country.

"The racialist régime in Southern Rhodesia also constitutes a hotbed of danger for all other African peoples, including those, which have already freed themselves from colonial oppression.

"It is a bayonet pointed at the heart of liberated Africa, a constant threat to peace on the African continent and a threat to world peace . . . The Soviet government, guided by its principled stand in questions of abolishing colonialism, strongly condemns the new crime against the peoples of Africa and declares that it does not recognise the racialist regime which has usurped power in Southern Rhodesia.

"The Soviet Union fully supports the decisions adopted by the United Nations Security Council and General Assembly on the situation in Southern Rhodesia and will carry them out unswervingly.

"Loyal to its steadfast policy of supporting the national liberation movement of the peoples, the Soviet government declares its full solidarity with the Zimbabwe people and again confirms its readiness to co-operate with the African countries in rendering them all-out support in their just struggle for genuine national independence."

Source: from the Soviet Neivs, No. 5206 (November 16, 1965), p. 70. Modern History Sourcebook: Rhodesia: Unilateral Declaration of Independence Documents, 1965

This text is part of the Internet Modern History Sourcebook. © Paul Halsall, July 1998.

Labels: CHINA, RUSSIA, UN

posted by MrK @ 4:16 AM