Zimbabwe election valid - Says President Jammeh
Posted: Thursday, July 3, 2008by Pa Malick Faye
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Daily Observer Gambia
President Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh, has given the June 27 Presidential election run-off in Zimbabwe a clean bill of health, saying "Zimbabwe's election is valid". The president, in addition, branded the leader of the main opposition MDC, Morgan Tchangarai, as a "blue-eyed boy" and "puppet" of the West, emphasising that Zimbabwe will never be colonised again.
The plain speaking Gambian leader made these remarks in an interview with newsmen at the airport, upon his arrival from the 11th AU summit in the Egyptian Red Sea Resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, which lasted for two days.
According to Dr Jammeh, the summit was not diversion on the Zimbabwe issue but rather showed African leaders working for the continent's interest and those who are for West. He added: "The pronouncements of major Western media before the summit was what those representing Western interests came with, but they have regretted it".
The Gambian leader made comparison to an election recently held in an Eastern African country, which was described as not free and fair by all institutions involved in the process, yet the West decided to be mute about it. The aftermath of that election was marred by violence during which many were killed, thousands displaced and the end result was a unity government.
To him, Africans accept Mugabe's re-election, because it was lawful as the country's laws do not ban elections if a party decides to boycott.
Hypocrisy
Dr Jammeh again made reference to an event in a country in the Horn of Africa, where opposition protesters were shot and killed with impunity. He added that the government went to the extent of refusing to release the dead bodies unless the relatives paid for the bullets, but yet still the West made no noise, because that government was serving their interests.
"Why Zimbabwe?" he asked. "Because the whites are involved," he said, answering his rhetorical question. He observed that the suffering of the people of Zimbabwe was not Mugabe's making, but the West's just because they want to effect a change of government, which will be ruled by their puppet.
Dr Jammeh wondered why the West during the first round of the election decreed the process foul only to endorse it when the MDC emerged as the winner.
He agreed with President Museveni of Uganda that elections cannot be free and fair, when the opposition is backed by external forces to destabilize a country by launching attacks on ruling party supporters and use NGOs to induce the electorate.
Inclusive Government
To Dr Jammeh, President Mugabe can accommodate "nationalists" and "patriots" who have divergent views with him but have the country's interest at heart. But the decision for that mechanism to be in place lies with the government and people of Zimbabwe.
Prosecuting Mugabe
The Gambian leader called the Western ploy to prosecute President Mugabe on the pretext of misrule as "free, fair and fine". But questioned why they are not calling for the prosecution of the then white minority government in Zimbabwe and South Africa, where they carried out mass killings of Blacks, which was stopped by Mugabe and his fellow nationalists.
He added that today, the perpetrators of those crimes are living freely and no one is calling for their prosecution.
"We Africans should learn a lesson from this. They (the West) think they can dictate to us (Africans) and this is not acceptable. Africans should stand for Zimbabwe. After all what did the West did for Africa?" he rhetorically asked.
The Theme
Commenting on the theme of the summit, which was "Meeting the Millennium Development Goals in Water and Sanitation," Dr Jammeh said sanitation is the problem in Africa and not water. "Leaders have realised that collective approach at continental level will enable the continent to meet the MDGs in 2015," he added.
Reproduced from: The Daily Observer (Gambia)Printer friendly version
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