British High Commissioner to Zimbabwe Brian Donnelly was warned on Wednesday not to ”interfere” in the internal affairs of the southern African country, according to the state-run Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation.
Information Minister Jonathan Moyo accused Donnelly of funding non-governmental organisations (NGOs) such as the Amani Trust, which were involved in violence in Zimbabwe, according to the ZBC. Amani Trust helps victims of torture and has made allegations of widespread torture by the ruling party against members of the opposition.
A state-owned weekly, The Sunday Mail, accused the British High Commission of granting 3,6-million Zimbabwe dollars ($65 450/ euros) to the NGO.
President Robert Mugabe on Friday warned NGOs not to get
involved in politics. Moyo was quoted by the state radio as saying that Donnelly was posted to Zimbabwe to destabilise the country as he did in Yugoslavia where he played an active role, according to the information minister, in the overthrow of the ”democratically elected” government of Slobodan Milosevic.
The arrival of Donnelly in Zimbabwe in 2001 saw a worsening of the already tense relations between London and Harare with the Zimbabwean government repeatedly accusing the high commissioner of having been sent to Zimbabwe to ”do a Yugoslavia.” – Sapa-AFP