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Zimbabwe: Uganda Cautions Mugabe
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New Vision (Kampala)
25 June 2008
Posted to the web 26 June 2008
Milton Olupot
Kampala
The Government has urged Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe to stop the violence and allow the people exercise their democratic rights to elect a new president.
Foreign affairs minister Sam Kutesa said on Tuesday that Uganda was concerned about the trend of events in Zimbabwe where election violence had claimed dozens of lives and displaced thousands. "We strongly urge the government to exercise restraint and put an end to the violence," Kutesa said.
Kutesa made the remarks at the British High Commission in Kampala, where he unveiled a life-size statute of the Crested Crane to commemorate Queen Elizabeth's visit to Uganda last year.
The visit, after 50 years, reflected her confidence in the country, said Kutesa.
"The unveiling of this historic life-size statute of the Crested Crane, Uganda's national symbol, symbolises the enshrinement of the historic and friendly bonds between the two countries."
On his part, Gordon said the Crested Crane was among the most beautiful bird species in Uganda.
"It is also a bird which, like all cranes, mates for life and in all cultures where there are cranes they symbolise consistency and loyalty," Gordon said.
As such, he noted, the statute is a sign of enduring and strong friendship between Britain and Uganda.
Turning back to the volatile political situation in Zimbabwe, Kutesa said the Government supported the African Union and the Southern African Development Community initiatives to resolve the crisis. "We pray that sanity returns to Zimbabwe to enable its people to enjoy their rights to meaningful life, free from violence."
Earlier, Gordon called on African nations to head the effort to save Zimbabwe. A re-run between Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF and Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC was due tomorrow.
However, Tsvangirai pulled out of the race, citing harassment, intimidation and the murder of his supporters by Mugabe's loyalists.
As a result, the veteran opposition leader fled to the Dutch embassy in Harare where he has been hiding fearing for his life.
Gordon said the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting held here in November last year, emphasised fundamental political values of democracy and human rights. "Sadly, today we can see in Zimbabwe exactly what happens when you turn your back on those key principles."
He said Mugabe's "thugs" had made it impossible to get rid of his tyrannical rule through an election.
The opposition who won the first round of elections on March 29, he added, were more legitimate and appealed to the world to ensure Mugabe did not claim victory on the "basis of this tainted and state-sponsored violence".
On its part, the UN Security Council has condemned the violence and called for the results of the first round of elections to be respected.
In London, the Foreign Office said Mugabe had been stripped of his honorary British knighthood as a "mark of revulsion". Queen Elizabeth II has approved the annulment of the honour, on the recommendation of Foreign Secretary David Miliband.
Mugabe was awarded the honorary knighthood in 1994 by then prime minister John Major's government.
In Swaziland, the regional leaders meeting on the crisis called for the run-off to be postponed. "The political situation appears not to be permissive for holding the run-off elections in a manner that will be free and fair," Tomaz Augusto Salomao, chief of the 14-nation Southern African Development Community, said.
"Holding the elections under the current environment undermines the credibility and legitimacy of the outcome."
On their part, Southern African Catholic bishops said God's judgement awaited Mugabe, his party and loyalists over their alleged acts of "atrocities and barbarism."
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"We warn that the atrocities and barbarism of ZANU-PF are being documented. Mr. Mugabe's actions and those of his generals, their wives, his thugs, supporters and the so-called 'war veterans' are offensive in the eyes of God. Judgement awaits," they said in a statement.
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