West controlling Tsvangirai: Mutambara
Posted: Monday, January 5, 2009

By Mabasa Sasa
January 05, 2009
The Herald

MDC leader Professor Arthur Mutambara has revealed that the United States is directly behind MDC-T head Mr Morgan Tsvangirai's reluctance to take up the post of Prime Minister as per the September 15 inter-party agreement to form an inclusive Government.

In a paper titled "The Inconvenient Truths About the West and Zimbabwe", Prof Mutambara confirmed the Government's assertions that Mr Tsvangirai was taking instructions from Washington functionaries like Jendayi Frazer, the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs.

He also said the West had never supported the idea of an inclusive Government, while slamming those agitating for a military invasion, branding them "arrogant and ignorant".

"The US and the UK are now taking advantage of the delay in implementation of the agreement to savage and destroy the Global Political Agreement.

"Do Frazer and her government have a workable alternative framework to the current GPA, together with an enforcement mechanism?

"And what is this that she said about the weakness and incompetence of her favourite GPA principal?

"Did she not say the following: 'Tsva-ngirai is too weak and incompetent for us to allow him to be in an inclusive Government with (President) Mugabe. He will be completely outmanoeuvred. Tsvangirai is not as strong as (Raila) Odinga. If he was, we would have allowed him to get into the GNU (Government of National Unity) with (President) Mugabe'?

"How can she possibly say such insulting remarks about her favourite opposition leader? With friends like these, who needs enemies? Incidentally, did she share her views about Tsvangirai with him? Why not?

"Anyway, who is she to allow or disallow African leaders? Does the US government have locus standi to do this? From where does she derive such legal, political or moral authority? Would a reverse scenario where international players seek to influence US politics be acceptable to the US?"

He added that the US had never liked the fact that Mr Tsvangirai signed an agreement recognising President Mugabe as both Head of State and Chair of Cabinet.

Prof Mutambara went further: "They despised the GPA positions on land reform and sanctions. Everyone knows this. We are not children."

He labelled the West's involvement as "ignorant and unstrategic", "uninformed and reckless", and that the US and UK's foreign policies had "negatively impacted on Zimbabwe's national interest".

"We can understand it if your defence (US and UK) is that you are slow learners and late bloomers where our matters are concerned. We can accept that.

"But it then also means you must take your cue from us who understand the Zimbabwean terrain better. You must accept that you are essentially ignorant, unstrategic, and hence ineffective where African matters are concerned," he said.

The opposition leader, who will be Deputy Prime Minister in the envisaged inclusive Government, said no African leader had spoken out against President Mugabe despite claims by the West to the contrary.

He said people like Odinga, John Sentamu and Desmond Tutu were of no consequence as they did not speak on behalf of a single African country.

"Soon after Odinga spoke, he was contradicted by his own foreign minister. This means he was not speaking on behalf of Kenya or President (Mwai) Kibaki.

"Archbishop Sentamu does not speak for any African country. Well, the same goes for Tutu; he is a good African who speaks for no African nation.

"Interestingly enough, even the usually reckless and unimaginative Ian Khama was not part of the African voices. So when these American and European leaders went into chorus, who were they supporting?

"In a continent of 53 countries, the US and UK could not convince a single African president to be part of their elegant chorus.

"If the Western leaders were indeed just supporting themselves, why did they lie that they were supporting voices of African leaders?"

He said the "Mugabe must go chorus" was both "unimaginative and predictable" and did not take into account the realities on the ground.

On the issue of military aggression, he said: "What has US military intervention produced in Iraq and Afghanistan? Do we have democratic outcomes in these countries? Are they peaceful, democratic and prosperous nations?

"Why would the Zimbabwean outcome be any different? If not, then why should this even be considered as an option?

"Only two African countries — Botswana and Kenya — have expressed an appetite for physical confrontation with Zimbabwe.

"We will not even dignify Botswana's posturing with too much discussion. They have no army but an incompetent police force which has no capacity to invade a desert, much less a country with Zimbabwe's military experience.

"Raila Odinga does not speak for the Kenyan government, so the analysis ends there."

Prof Mutambara said the world must realise that there could never be any negotiated agreement that excluded President Mugabe as they wished and they must accept this fact.

"One would expect someone of Jendayi Frazer's stature to understand all this. How does she say that the US supports the negotiated power-sharing, but insists that (President) Mugabe must not be involved?

"Making these statements while defying the consistent advice that she received from all the South African leaders that she interacted with means that Frazer is insulting the SA leadership at every level. By this disrespectful conduct, she is humiliating both Sadc and the AU.

"More specifically, US foreign policy is always characterised by double standards, hypocrisy and dishonesty, all rooted in the pursuit of US permanent interests.

"We seriously hope that incoming US president (Barack) Obama and his new team will depart from this ignorant, ruinous and ineffective foreign policy that effectively undermines its intended beneficiaries, strengthens the targeted villains, while blighting the US standing in the world."

Prof Mutambara slated those countries that sought to gain political mileage from things like the cholera outbreak, saying people's suffering should never be used as a political tool whether by politicians, foreign governments or civil society.

Last year Prof Mutambara wrote another paper in which he strongly chided the West for their ignorance on Zimbabwean affairs and for treating Africans like little children. 

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