(TALKZIMBABWE) Obama to Zimbabwe: A compliment, an insult and only $73 million

Sunday, July 05, 2009

(TALKZIMBABWE) Obama to Zimbabwe: A compliment, an insult and only $73 million

Obama to Zimbabwe: A compliment, an insult and only $73 million
Brian E. Muhammad - Opinion
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:29:00 +0000

ON June 12, U.S. President Barack Obama received a Zimbabwean delegation led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai at The White House. The meeting resulted in Pres. Obama complimenting the Prime Minister, criticizing Pres. Robert Mugabe and donating $73 million albeit “not to the government directly.”

“I obviously have extraordinary admiration for the courage and the tenacity that the Prime Minister has shown in navigating through some very difficult political times in Zimbabwe,” Pres. Obama said.

But admonishing Pres. Mugabe, Obama added, “I think I've made my views clear, [Mugabe] has not acted oftentimes in the best interest of the Zimbabwean people and has been resistant to the kinds of democratic changes that need to take place.”

If that wasn't enough to add insult to injury, the White House excluded certain people in the delegation from the meeting with Pres. Obama, who are members of The Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) which is the party of Pres. Mugabe.

Walter Muzembi, Zimbabwe's Tourism Minister and member of ZANU-PF was barred although he was in an earlier meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, according to published reports.

Mr. Muzembi said he was shocked when officials from the White House protocol department informed the group that he was uninvited from attending the White House meeting.

Zimbabwe, a country of 18 million people, was harshly impacted by international sanctions that included travel bans on Pres. Mugabe and some members of his government. Pres. Mugabe is in his sixth term and has ruled for 29 years since independence. The 84-year-old freedom fighter has had a shaky relationship with the Western powers in recent years.

Mr. Tsvangirai's visit was part of a world tour to attract political credibility and economic support for the southern African nation impoverished by the effects of the sanctions, massive unemployment and hyper-inflation.

But the interesting dynamic about the meeting in the Oval Office was until recently Mr. Tsvangirai was Pres. Mugabe's main opposition leader as head of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The MDC was financed, supported and trained by the U.S. government.

Analysts on Zimbabwe say the U.S. enrolled Mr. Tsvangirai at the Harvard Kennedy School of Executive Education to be fast-tracked through courses in leadership and administrating government.

Some Critics of Pres. Obama's overt commitment to the Prime Minister see it as the continuum of U.S. presidents who maintain a position of non-communication with selected world leaders while keeping an open door of dialogue with their political opponents. An example of this was former Pres. George Bush's White House meeting with opposition leaders from Southern Sudan while locking the door against the legitimate government of Sudan under Pres. Omar al-Bashir.

Furthermore Pres. Obama's unconcealed support for Morgan Tsvangirai—America's historical puppet—and his obvious disdain for Pres. Robert Mugabe hints that U.S. policy toward Zimbabwe is the same as it always was, “regime change” and the toppling of the ruling ZANU-PF led by Pres. Mugabe. However, the useful tool to achieve the goal is now in government by the name of Morgan Tsvangirai.

For several centuries Zimbabwe was colonized by the British and occupied by White minority rule until the struggle for independence led to African liberation in 1980. In current times Pres. Mugabe fell out of favor with America and Britain over the question of land redistribution from the White wealthy elite back in the hands of Africans, the rightful owners.

However the response from the Western governments to the land reform program was a destabilization campaign that eventually included Morgan Tsvangirai as their preferred replacement of Pres. Mugabe.

The turning point in Zimbabwe politics came with the general election of March 2008 which found Pres. Mugabe challenged by Mr. Tsvangirai for the presidency. The election ended in dispute over alleged poll irregularities. Mr. Tsvangirai claimed victory in the presidential race, but official results posted by the Zimbabwe Electoral Committee contradicted this, forcing a run-off election in June 2008.

Prior to the run-off, Mr. Tsvangirai withdrew from the ballot over violent clashes between ZANU-PF and his MDC supporters. This opened the way for international rejection of the elections as not being “free and fair.”

In a February 2009 compromise following difficult negotiations brokered by former South Africa Pres. Thabo Mbeki, both parties entered into a power sharing agreement, allowing Mr. Mugabe to remain as president and recreating the position of prime minister for Mr. Tsvangirai.

Because of Tsvangirai's ties to the West, the trip was designed to usher in Zimbabwe's reentry into the good graces of America and other western countries.

However, the die was already cast against full acceptance of Zimbabwe before the Prime Minister's meeting with Pres. Obama. The day before the White House meeting, a Senate resolution was passed maintaining “targeted sanctions and its existing ban on most non-humanitarian government assistance to Zimbabwe until there is progress toward restoring the rule of law, civilian control over security forces and respect for human rights.”

At the end of the day the West will not help fix what it broke through sanctions and international isolation. To lift Zimbabwe out of the economic mess that it is currently in would cost an estimated $13 billion and not even the fondness toward a well-seasoned puppet like Morgan Tsvangirai will sway America and the western nations to nudge, while the revolutionary Robert Mugabe is still in power.

Labels: BARACK OBAMA, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, SANCTIONS