The refusal of Zimbabwe’s neighbours to condemn the ”outrages” taking place in the country has limited Britain’s ability to take action, Jack Straw admitted on Tuesday.
”The fundamental difficulty about doing more rests with the approach of African leaders, that is true,” the foreign secretary said in an interview with the Guardian on Tuesday.
”It’s very disappointing that, in the face of very clear evidence, they have been unwilling to speak out against these outrages. That’s bad for the people directly affected in Zimbabwe. It’s also bad for the reputation of Africa,” Straw said.
In a robust defence of the government’s record towards its former colony, the foreign secretary cited EU sanctions — ”aimed at the political elite, not ordinary folk” — and the G8’s recent condemnation.
But he drew back from specific criticisms of South African President Thabo Mbeki, the key player. ”I don’t think name-calling necessarily advances what one is trying to do,” he said, and expressed the hope that South Africa’s strategy would change.
Straw also supported Charles Clarke’s refusal to suspend deportations of failed asylum seekers to Zimbabwe.
Denying reports that he had urged a change on the home secretary, Straw said that constituency experience in Blackburn had taught him that while many Zimbabwean claimants’ claims to refugee status ”entirely stack up”, a second group’s claims was full of contradictions.
As a former student demonstrator he believes that the protests being encouraged by rock stars such as Bob Geldof and Bono are helpful to the summit process. ”If you push a long way, you get some way, that’s democracy,” said Straw.
Geldof’s populist language is also a vital part of the mix. ”If Geldof started talking like a boring politician, no one would listen, so he’s bound to be populist.”
If the G8 does provide more aid and debt relief, the onus will be on African leaders to meet what Straw called ”the higher expectations by donor governments, the donor public and their own public. If they fail to meet those expectations they will find that the climate for coming back for more will be very different. They know that.”
UN envoy awaits meeting with Mugabe
A United Nations team accompanying a special envoy met with civic leaders on Tuesday to discuss the effects of a so-called urban renewal campaign that has displaced hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans.
The eight-member delegation led by Anna Tibaijuka, the Tanzanian head of UN Habitat, was collecting information ahead of a promised meeting with President Robert Mugabe later in the week, a U.N. statement said.
For protocol reasons, Tibaijuka was apparently waiting to see the president before visiting townships and markets destroyed under his widely condemned campaign dubbed Operation Murambatsvina, or Drive Out Trash.
UN spokesperson Tafadzwa Mumba refused to comment on whether Tibaijuka had been given the appointment she was seeking. There was no immediate word from Mugabe’s office.
Mugabe says he is trying to fight crime, maintain health standards and restore order in Zimbabwe’s cities. But the opposition, which has its strongholds among the urban poor, says the blitz is intended to punish its supporters, who voted against the government in recent parliamentary elections.
Church leaders, lawyers and doctors in Zimbabwe have condemned the campaign as a cruel attack on the poor. International activists and Western governments have called it a violation of human rights.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan sent Tibaijuka to Zimbabwe after UN staff estimated at least 1,5-million had been affected by the campaign. Zimbabwean police only acknowledge 120 000 people have been affected.
Since the campaign was launched May 19, police have torched and bulldozed tens of thousands of shacks, street stalls and, at a time of acute food shortages, the vegetable gardens planted by the urban poor.
The campaign — in which more than 42 000 people have also been arrested, fined or had their goods confiscated — comes at a time when millions of Zimbabweans are already struggling to make ends meet with inflation running near 150% and unemployment hovering around 80%.
Mugabe’s government says the campaign is now moving into a reconstruction phase, in which new homes will be provided to deserving Zimbabweans. It has not specified who will qualify. – Sapa-AP, Guardian Unlimited Â