Zimbabwe threatens to expel Western envoys
ZIMBABWE: Zimbabwe threatened to expel Western ambassadors it
accuses of backing a drive to oust President Robert Mugabe and barred
opposition leaders from foreign travel until they appear in court.
Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi told Zimbabwe state
television (ZTV) that he had warned envoys accredited to Harare that
Mugabe’s government would not hesitate to boot out those who support
opposition politics.
“I summoned the ambassadors, and I told them that Zimbabwe will not
allow any interferance in its internal affairs and that those who are
going to continue funding and supporting this programme to (remove the
government from power) will be expelled,” he said during ZTV news
bulletin in the local Shona language.
The threat followed a statement by Zimbabwean police that opposition
leader Morgan Tsvangirai and his colleagues would be grounded in the
country until their case has been dealt with by the courts.
The U.S. ambassador, Christopher Dell, walked out of the meeting
after Mumbengegwi failed to give an assurance that the diplomats would
be able to respond to his statement, the State Department said in
Washington.
“The United States will continue to speak and act steadfastly in
support of the people of Zimbabwe’s right to democracy,” it said in a
statement.
Mugabe has come under heavy criticism for a new crackdown on the
opposition, which he accuses of trying to organise anti-government
protests that he says are bankrolled by some Western countries.
Tsvangirai, head of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), and
dozens of other opposition figures say they were savagely beaten in
police custody. Images of their battered faces prompted a wave of
international condemnation of a government which is already battling a
severe economic crisis.
Mugabe’s government came in for fresh criticism after Tsvangirai’s
chief spokesman Nelson Chamisa was assaulted and badly injured by a gang
at Harare airport on Sunday, forcing him to abandon a trip to Brussels.
At least three other MDC activists were also prevented from leaving
the airport over the weekend.
Tsvangirai, Chamisa and dozens of MDC activists face charges of
public violence after they were arrested on March 12 at a prayer meeting
forbidden under a new ban.
Tsvangirai, who suffered a suspected fractured skull, left a hospital
in Harare on Friday. A court hearing on their case last week was
cancelled and a new date has not been set.
“The case is still pending and they have to appear in court first,”
police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said. “I understand the dockets are
ready so the case should proceed anytime.”
Defence lawyers for Arthur Mutambara, head of a smaller MDC faction
who was arrested as he attempted to travel to South Africa on Saturday,
said a Harare Court had on Monday ordered his immediate release.
Glenys Kinnock, co-chair of the EU-ACP (African, Caribbean and
Pacific) parliamentary assembly on Monday said officials from the ruling
ZANU-PF party should be banned from planned meetings in Brussels this
week after the assault on Chamisa.
Mugabe, 83 and Zimbabwe’s sole leader since independence from Britain
in 1980, has come in for a wave of international criticism over the
treatment of the opposition leaders.
Once southern Africa’s bread basket, Zimbabwe now suffers from
inflation of more than 1,700 percent, frequent food and fuel shortages
and unemployment of about 80 percent.
Harare, Tuesday, Reuters |