Mugabe is an embarrassment to AU and UN

By: Jerry Okungu

[ Posted On: 2008-06-26 ]

Sometime last week, I received hate mail from one 'Larry Hill' who, though his name was Western, I suspected was some blind Zimbabwean supporter of President Robert Mugabe.

The man was annoyed with me over an article I had written and published online earlier in the month. In that article, I questioned why the World Food Programme in Rome had excluded Mugabe from a farewell dinner soon after the World Food Summit.

This is what 'Larry Hill' said:

"Hello, Jerry. On reading your article 'How Mugabe's speech cost him a plate of chips in Rome', written on June 11, I felt it so pitiful that I almost cried for Africa."

"You have sold your soul to the white propaganda machine for a mere ten cents and you are not bothered by that at all. I suggest you pick up a book and read about the colonisation of Africa, the Berlin conference of 1884 and the 500 years of slavery."

"Stupid African kings thought they were just selling their brothers from different tribes, but in turn the whole continent was enslaved. Now, the continent is again under siege from the great grandsons of the former colonisers and you can't see that?"

"Why not talk about the promises the British reneged on? They have not paid a dime of the £50 million they pledged to pay for the resettlement of white settlers. "

"The land question in Zimbabwe has not been answered. I believe this is hard to envision, given Kenyans lost their land so long ago, they don't even remember what it means to own land. Very sad."

When I read this article, I didn't even feel angry at this Zimbabwean African who found it necessary to judge me for writing about Robert Mugabe.

What was even more annoying was that Larry Hill, with his blind faith in Mugabe, didn't even bother to open his eyes to see what was unfolding in his homeland.

Perhaps his kind are the reason despots in Africa continue to act with impunity. They have a cult-like following despite their crimes against humanity.

This article is directed at the African and the world community: What is happening in Zimbabwe is unacceptable and cannot be allowed to go on when the Rwanda trials are still going on next door in Arusha, Tanzania.

How can the world community, and more so Africa, stand there arms folded while Mugabe is slaughtering his own people?

How can men like South African President Thabo Mbeki and Tanzania's Jakaya Kikwete, who is also the African Union (AU) chair, call themselves African leaders, while one of their own is carrying out acts of genocide right in front of their eyes?

Wasn't it an insult to see United Nations Secretary-General Ban Kimoon shifting the embarrassment to the AU just hours after the UN Security Council had merely condemned the Zimbabwe crisis?

Why is it that when there is a crisis of this nature in Africa, it is always an African problem that requires an African solution? On what basis did the Allied Forces invade Iraq twice, in 1993 and 2003, the latter invasion leading to an occupation that is still going on today? On what basis did the Americans and their allies hang Saddam Hussein?

Were Saddam's sins against humanity worse than Mugabe's murderous orgy? On what basis did the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation forces invade Bosnia and Kosovo at the height of genocide in that region?

How come when Rwanda was burning in 1994, it was an African problem that did not require super power and UN interventions?

How come when the apartheid regime was carrying out genocide inside South Africa and murdering innocent civilians in cross-border raids among frontline states, the superpowers that controlled the UN decisions stood by for forty years and did nothing for Africans? Only Cuban leader Fidel Castro intervened militarily in the region.

To the African leaders and the United Nations, I say Robert Mugabe has crossed the line.

The despot must be removed by force if necessary to stop him from further annihilating his country, his record as a freedom fighter notwithstanding. Zimbabweans did not fight for freedom only to be massacred by one of their own!

Because of the shame of what is going in Zimbabwe, the AU and the UN stand condemned in the court of world public opinion.

Article Source: http://www.afroarticles.com/article-dashboard

Jerry Okungu is a freelance political analyst based in Nairobi, Kenya. Jerry also serves as a Board Director at The Kenya Broadcasting Corporation. Jerry has written extensively on issues affecting Kenya and the rest of Africa over the years. Other articles written by Jerry Okungu are available at this location

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