President Robert Mugabe escalated Zimbabwe’s war of words with Britain yesterday by threatening to expel London’s high commissioner from Harare, claiming that Sir Brian Donnelly had aided opposition protests.
The Zimbabwean president told supporters that London’s top diplomatic envoy had been warned to stop backing the opposition in its campaign of general strikes and protests against the government.
”We know that the British have been behind it. They are giving them money, we know that. That’s why I warn Donnelly, if he continues doing it, we will kick him out of this country,” said Mugabe, Reuters reported.
Government officials and state-owned media have frequently accused British diplomats of taking sides but the latest threat was thought to be the most serious because it named the high commissioner and made explicit the prospect of deportation.
Alleged meddling by the former colonial power has been a tenet of the government’s explanation for the political upheavals, strikes and economic meltdown in the country.
The Foreign Office denied the claim but declined to comment on the expulsion threat.
”We do, however, support the principles of democracy and the right of the citizens of Zimbabwe to demonstrate and express their views peacefully,” a spokesperson said.
Several British diplomats based in Harare have been accused by the state-owned press of collaborating with ”anti-patriotic forces” and being puppet-masters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Mugabe’s threat follows his government’s embarrassment this week at a Commonwealth meeting in South Africa when Pretoria upheld a Commonwealth ban on Zimbabwean officials and blocked cabinet ministers attending.
Pretoria has been at pains to portray itself as neutral in Zimbabwe’s crisis and blocking Harare’s envoys was widely viewed as a grudging yielding to pressure from Britain and Australia, among others.
A five-day general strike last week, which paralysed major cities, has prompted a government crackdown, with more than 800 arrested, including the MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, who appeared in court yesterday to face treason charges.
Lawyers argued in vain for Tsvangirai, a former trade unionist, to be freed on bail.
Meanwhile, the UN’s World Food Programme yesterday singled out Mozambique and Zimbabwe, once the region’s breadbasket, as the southern African countries most in need of food aid in the wake of last year’s drought-fuelled food shortage. – Guardian Unlimited Â