Maravi

(TALKZIMBABWE) Group of Elders should re-read history

Group of Elders should re-read history
By: Tendai Midzi
Posted: Friday, June 4, 2010 10:22 am

FORMER U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his so-called "Group of Elders" are making a fool of themselves by making uninformed comments about Zimbabwe without the right kind of briefing from politicians in the country.

There are crises in many places in the world where these so-called "elders" have either remained quiet or taken a more informed approach. There are also other places where their contribution could be more meaningful rather than Zimbabwe where the parties are at peace and have managed to strike a deal without their influence.

Zimbabweans have shown their determination to work for the good of the country by coming out with a home-grown solution without undue input from the West. Their divisive tactics have failed to work in Zimbabwe.

The West has never been known for being good at nation-building. Look at the Middle East today and Iraq to see how botched any attempts by the West are.

By calling Zimbabwe a "tragedy still waiting to be resolved," Kofi Annan, Graca Machel, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Jimmy Carter are exhibiting ignorance beyond any imagination. The Zimbabwean case is clear-cut. The country went through a protracted struggle and its efforts are not about to be reversed by a bunch of people who think they know better what Zimbabweans deserve or what they have gone through.

We have a solid history of fighting for our rights and will protect that history. We also have a good track record of resolving our own differences.

Their caution that it would be premature for the country to try to organize new elections until a number of measures have been taken, is also ill-advised. These people do not know anything about the Zimbabwean situation, except through reports they get from so-called "human rights organisations" in Zimbabwe.

What they call "the slow pace of implementation of the Global Political Agreement in Zimbabwe" also shows their ignorance. A country that can come up with a solution in such a short space of time cannot be said to be "going slow". They should read their history well -- in Northern Ireland, Kenya, Somalia, Nigeria, just to name a few countries.

Power sharing agreements are not easy to institute and only misinformed people will think Zimbabwe is not making progress.

Archbishop Tutu should look in his backyard to see what exactly is going on, rather than make misinformed statements on Zimbabwe.

The "Elders" would do us good by criticising the resurgence of racism, Fascism, Apartheid and Nazism in South Africa, than look for glory in criticising a country that is making its own progress.

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Tendai Midzi is a lecturer in economics at the London Metropolitan University.

Labels: GLOBAL POLITICAL AGREEMENT

posted by MrK @ 8:20 PM