(TALKZIMBABWE) MDC, Britain relations strained over Miliband comments

MDC, Britain relations strained over Miliband comments
Philip Murombedzi
Sun, 31 Jan 2010 20:31:00 +0000

Prime Minister Tsvangirai and David Miliband, British Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary meet in London in 2009

PRIME MINISTER Morgan Tsvangirai's party's long time relationship with former Zimbabwe coloniser, Britain was strained over utterances made in the House of Commons by Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary David Miliband.

Miliband on Tuesday last week made the shock revelation that the MDC-T party "controlled" some of the illegal and ruionous sanctions imposed against Zimbabwe by Britain, the United States and their allies in the West.

He said that sanctions should continue against Zimbabwe until PM Tsvangirai personally advocated for them to be lifted.

PM Tsvangirai, whose party has had cordial relations with the former coloniser, said Saturday that Miliband's remarks were unhelpful as Zimbabwe's inclusive Government negotiates a power-sharing pact President Mugabe.

The prime minister said he told Miliband that "his comment was unfortunate." There was no immediate comment from the FCO or from Miliband over the utterances.

The British embassy in Harare tried to tone down Miliband's statement last week, without much success. The embassy did not retract Miliband's statement, but said that issues of human rights and media freedom were important in lifting "restrictive measures" against Zimbabwe.

Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara also attacked Miliband for "un-strategic” thinking in the West which is undermining the country’s formal opposition.

Speaking in the Swiss ski resort of Davos where he is attending the annual World Economic Forum, Mutambara said Miliband’s statements showed that Western leaders would do well if they “speak less and listen more”.

“It’s an example of how Western leaders can be very un-strategic. We know they mean well, we know they support the people of Zimbabwe but when they make such statements they are completely undermining our bargaining power as the formal opposition.

“So it’s very unfortunate and very ignorant for him to stay that. We are saying to these western leaders please can you be strategic for this challenge; can you talk to us before you make these unreasonable and meaningless statements because you are undermining Mr Tsvangirai; you are undermining all of us in this inclusive Government,” he said.

Zanu PF maintains that the MDC-T should cause the lifting of sanctions that it asked Western countries to impose on Zimbabwe before any other concessions are made in the implementation of the Global Political Agreement (GPA).

The Zanu PF Politburo, the party’s highest decision making body outside Congress, which sat on Wednesday declared that the party would not make any more concessions in talks with the two MDC formations on issues outstanding in the full implementation of the GPA until the economic sanctions are lifted.

Addressing the media on Wednesday afternoon, Zanu PF deputy secretary for information and publicity Ephraim Masawi said the removal of sanctions had become imperative.

He said recent revelations by that London would remove sanctions at MDC’s request exposed MDC-T’s "treacherous role" in the initiation and drafting of the illegal sanctions against Zimbabweans saying the party was "a tool" of Western imperialism.