Financial Gazette (Harare)
Staff Reporter
6 July 2001
Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), this week stepped up his diplomatic mission to get the West more involved in the political crisis in Zimbabwe by urging the international community to exert extra pressure on the government of President Robert Mugabe.
Tsvangirai, who is touring some European capitals and cities to drum up support for his crusade to get the Mugabe government accountable to the people and for a free and fair presidential poll next year, said the world was beginning to realise that only a forthright approach could help Zimbabwe out of its political and economic crisis.
"We have been simply and candidly urging the international community to work with other African countries like South Africa and Nigeria in a coordinated approach to solve the crisis in Zimbabwe," Tsvangirai told the Financial Gazette in a wide ranging telephone interview from London.
"From the feedback we are getting, the international community now wants to take a forthright and decisive approach in dealing with Zimbabwe's crisis," he added. While in London on his way back to Harare after almost a month in the US, Tsvangirai held an introductory meeting with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in which the two discussed Zimbabwe.
Tsvangirai became the first Zimbabwean politician to hold a meeting with Straw, who replaced Robin Cook in a Cabinet reshuffle announced by British Prime Minister Tony Blair last month.
"It was a cordial and very fruitful and progressive meeting. Straw is well briefed about the situation in Zimbabwe and what needs to be done," Tsvangirai said.
The two discussed the need for a free and fair presidential election to be held in Zimbabwe next year, among other issues.
Yesterday Tsvangirai was due to have talks in Strasbourg, France, with high-ranking European Union (EU) commissioners Poul Nielsen responsible for development and humanitarian aid, Christopher Patten (external relations) and Neil Kinnock, vice president for administrative reform.
The EU has given the Zimbabwe government a 60-day ultimatum to address a range of governance issues, including ending political violence and farm invasions, embracing Press freedom and the respect of human rights and respecting court rulings.
The EU has threatened it might impose punitive sanctions against Harare if its demands are not met.
Tsvangirai, who was on attachment to the prestigious Kennedy School of Governance in the United States on an executive programme for leaders from developing countries, said the George Bush administration had already taken a clear position on Zimbabwe.
"The US administration is very clear on its position in Zimbabwe and they are ready to move," he said.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell has already openly told Mugabe to stop using "totalitarian methods" to cling to power.
Walter Kansteiner, the newly appointed US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, last week ruled out a resumption of normal relations with Zimbabwe unless the government stops violence and re-establishes the rule of law, in suspension since last year.
"Our message to President Robert Mugabe and his government must be consistent and clear: while the United States desires open and friendly relations with Zimbabwe, we cannot have normal relations until the violence and the intimidation are ended and the rule of law is restored," Kansteiner told a Senate hearing on Zimbabwe.
Other notable panelists who testified on Zimbabwe to the Senate sub-committee on Africa, headed by Senator Russell Feingold, were Professor Robert Rotberg of the World Peace Foundation at Harvard University; Yves Sekerobi, the Africa director of the Committee to Protect Journalists; and John Predergast, a consultant for the International Crisis Group.
While in the US, Tsvangirai held meetings with Richard Armitage, the US deputy secretary of state, Kansteiner and assistant secretary for democracy, rights and labour, Lorne Craner, Feingold and some officials of the US Senate foreign relations committee.
Feingold is one of the co-sponsors of the proposed Zimbabwe Democracy Bill which, if passed, will bar US aid to the Zimbabwe government and ban US visits by top officials in the government who are sponsoring and promoting lawlessness.
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