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(TALKZIMBABWE) Hands off Zimbabwe, Museveni tells Brown

Hands off Zimbabwe, Museveni tells Brown
TZG/Newsnet reporters
Mon, 27 Jul 2009 01:55:00 +0000

PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni of Uganda has told British prime minister, Gordon Brown to keep off the Zimbabwe issue and let the regional bloc Southern African Development Community (Sadc) handle it. Uganda currently holds the presidency of the United Nations Security Council.

The Ugandan president is currently hosting the 9th Global Smart Partnership Dialogue, a commonwealth idea which started in November 1995, when the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting met in Auckland, New Zealand, met to launch the Commonwealth Partnership for Technology Management Limited (CPTM).

Speaking to the Zimbabwe delegation soon after arrival at Entembe International airport, president Museveni told members of President Robert Mugabe’s delegation and the inclusive Government to "remember that change without continuity is unsustainable."

"Unity and continuity are needed to establish a peaceful Zimbabwe," said the Ugandan leader."

"British prime minister Gordon Brown should keep his hands off the Zimbabwean issue and let our friends in Sadc handle it.

"The region has given the mandate to mediate in the Zimbabwean issue to (former SA President Thabo) Mbeki and our institutions should be allowed to mediate in these issues," said the Ugandan president.

President Museveni said there were soci-cultural factors that made it difficult for Western leaders to mediate in African crises.

"I told these Western governments who wanted external mediation that the Burundians have very long surnames like Ntibantuganya (in reference to the former Burundian president Sylvestre Ntibantuganya, who assumed power after the then incumbent Cyprien Ntaryamira was killed along with Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana sparking the 1994 genocide), and that by the time former president Jimmy Carter learns to pronounce Burundi names, events in Burundi will have taken a turn for the worst."

Museveni described the Smart Partnership dialogue as a win-win situation that can spearhead the transformation of societies, especially in Africa.

Museveni, who hosted at least four presidents, pointed out that the development of the human resource, a network of good roads and railway lines, adequate and cheap electricity as well as the private sector and regional integration are crucial pillars needed to accelerate socio-economic transformation of societies in Africa.

In his response President Robert Mugabe said the delegation which accompanied him to Kampala is a "face of a new Zimbabwe working towards the good of all."

President Mugabe also said former British PM Tony Blair's statement suggesting that he must be toppled and that Zanu PF must go, demonstrates outside interference in the internal affairs of Zimbabwe.

President Mugabe is scheduled to address the dialogue today on the theme, "Inclusivity and National Visions," that captures events in Zimbabwe where an inclusive Government, he leads in his capacity as Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, is in its sixth month after inception and the nation’s leadership is seized with drafting a new constitution and national vision documents.

Deputy prime ministers, professor Arthur Mutambara and Ms Thokozani Khupe are part of the president’s delegation to Uganda.

DPM Mutambara said Zimbabwe is building on the foundations of the liberation struggle and disunity which characterised yesterday, is now a thing of the past.

The global 2009 international dialogue kicked off this Sunday at Munyonyo International Conference Centre outside Kampala.

It brings together over 550 experts in various fields, politics, business, academic and media.

The experts are discussing various challenges confronting the globe, principally the global financial crisis and climate change.

The theme of the conference is “smart partnership for a smarter globe, ”.

Zimbabwe has a strong team in Kampala - which includes Industry and International Trade minister, professor Welshman Ncube, minister of Small and Medium Enterprises and Cooperative Development Cde Stembiso Nyoni, minister of Science and Technology Development professor Heneri Dzinotyiwei and deputy minister of Economic Planning and Investment Promotion, Dr Samuel Undenge. TZG/Newsnet

Labels: GORDON BROWN, MUGABE, NEOCOLONIALISM, SADC, TONY BLAIR, YOWERI MUSEVENI

posted by MrK @ 12:13 PM