L'Express (Port Louis)

Zimbabwe: Not Just a Black-White Struggle

opinion

Port Louis — I am disappointed by the superficial comments made about the situation in Zimbabwe in the local press. I understand the position of Mr Lenoir who sees this as a black-white struggle, though the ambiguous positions of two diplomatic experts and the rush of the Mauritian government to hide behind the skirts of the SADC and President Mbeki of South Africa are far less comprehensible.

I certainly condemn the white only regime of Rhodesia and the Unilateral Declaration of Independence of Ian Smith. However, there were far-sighted black African leaders such as Bishop Abel Muzorewa, the first Prime minister of Rhodesia-Zimbabwe who sought to bring about a government of national unity.

Unfortunately his interim government lasted only a few months (late 1979-February 1980 when elections were held. These elections were far from free and fair and were characterized by violence and intimidation by the ZANU of which Mr Mugabe was now the leader. The "outcome" was that he was elected President.

In October 1980, President Mugabe met with President Kim IL Sung of North Korea who provided hundreds of military experts to train what was to become known as the Fifth Brigade, a military element not controlled by the Zimbabwean army but directly under President Mugabe.

Then began an ethnic cleansing of the Ndebele speaking Matabele, a minority in Zimbabwe, whose leader, Joshua Nkomo, had been a companion in arms with Mugabe in the struggle for independence.

The estimates of the Matabele killed range from 10,000 to 30,000. All this took place in the general indifference, as in Burundi-Rwanda, of the international community since, I presume, they were black Africans fighting black Africans.


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Comments 1 to 5 of 25 Post a comment

  • universali28
    Sep 16 2008, 05:28

    This is an interesting topic and a pertinent comment. True Mugabe and his thugs (the 5th brigade trained by North Korea) created a reign of terror in Matabeleland torturing , killing , raping thousands Matabelees , the exact numbers will never be known .... It shows how tribal African societies are.-These days it's politically incorrect to say so but it's a fact . Ex colonial powers always have to take the blame for whatever happens in Subsaharan Africa and African chiefs of States will always take it on colonial past to divert the opinion of there failure , ineficency and corruption. -Whenever there are Tribal wars in Africa diguised as political paties followed by European intervention , European nations will be accused of mendling in private State matters and if no intervention takes place European powers will be accused by African chiefs of States by not taking responsabilities towards there ex-Colonies-Where one drow's the line?- Now it's Christmas in a lot of African States, China is pourring huge amounts of money in Africa and no questions asked !!! Where is the money going ? Out of Africa and definetly not where it should go that is Education , health care , transport , clean water , agriculture and the list goes on .... Zimbabwe is turning into a cemitery and nothing is done to get rid of this Hitler's like Tyrant due to this nonesense approach on African politics . It's going to cost billions of dollars to get Zimbabwe not on it's feets but just on it's knees .... What a SHAME

  • universali28
    Sep 16 2008, 06:08

    This is an interesting topic and a pertinent comment. True Mugabe and his thugs (the 5th brigade trained by North Korea) created a reign of terror in Matabeleland torturing , killing , raping thousands Matabelees , the exact numbers will never be known .... It shows how tribal African societies are.-These days it's politically incorrect to say so but it's a fact . Ex colonial powers always have to take the blame for whatever happens in Subsaharan Africa and African chiefs of States will always take it on colonial past to divert the opinion of there failure , inefficency and corruption. -Whenever there are Tribal wars in Africa diguised as political paties followed by European intervention , European nations will be accused of meddling in private State matters and if no intervention takes place European powers will be accused by African chiefs of States by not taking responsabilities towards there ex-Colonies-Where one draw's the line?- Now it's Christmas in a lot of African States, China is pourring huge amounts of money in Africa and no questions asked !!! Where is the money going ? Out of Africa and definetly not where it should go that is Education , health care , transport , clean water , agriculture and the list goes on .... Zimbabwe is turning into a cemitery and nothing is done to get rid of this Hitler's like Tyrant due to this nonesense approach on African politics . It's going to cost billions of dollars to get Zimbabwe not on it's feets but just on it's knees .... What a SHAME

  • Phiri
    Jul 24 2008, 13:20

    Peter Craig and Port Louis, attempt’s to invoke “it is not a white/black issue” is hypocrisy at the highest level and a lot of self-righteousness on their part. The examples provided offer a window to see how these white Anglo men think and Function. The Bishop Muzorewa’s Prime Ministership failed because white “Rhodesians” could not accept black rule or give up and share military power. Bishop Muzorewa was sincerely, while Anglo whites were never really sincere. The shona’s who supported the bishop will never forgive white Anglos…..for that!!!

    The cleansing of the Ndebele by Robert Mugabe and the silence of Britain to condemn Mugabe is the ultimate reason why “race” is an issue and I will explain. While the Ndebele’s who are black suffered Britain was quiet, while white farmers cried “foul” started one of the loudest cries against Mugabe. The Ndebele for that will never forgive you…

    To crown it all white Anglos totally took over 80% of arable land in the then Rhodesia. Why on earth would any right thinking Zimbabwean ever..ever trust a white Anglo man/women? Yes, this is not a “white/black” issue it is certainly an issue for Zimbabweans regarding white Anglos. After all it is not the Swedes or Germans who did damage to Zimbabwe!

  • kingswood
    Jul 25 2008, 00:40

    I totally agree with Phiri This Paragraph says it all “Yes, this is not a “white/black” issue it is certainly an issue for Zimbabweans regarding white Anglos. After all it is not the Swedes or Germans who did damage to Zimbabwe!”

    Dragging the culprits by their Nationality from the behind the phrase ( white) often used as a cloaking term must now be done more often. ,Far too long has some European Nationals committed grave acts against none European countries and their peoples and proceed to hide within the bosom of Innocent Europeans countries for protection Are the past predatorily types in European sharpening their knives to butcher up Africa again? Africa is sinks beneath a European yoke, she weeps she bleeds and each new day a gash is added to her bleeding wounds…. May her Gods rise up and protect her

  • djoser35
    Jul 25 2008, 01:42

    "May her Gods rise up and protect her" May her Gods give Africa the same sense of unity that the Europeans have used for centuries to invade and dominate other countries. Once they have this, they will have the protection that they need against foreign predators. Unfortunately too many Africans seem to be caught up in their little group, i.e. tribe, clan, etc and not enough into cultural unity as the Europeans are. One need only to observe how the Europeans (+ white America) united against Robert Mugabe once he started asserting the African rights to own and control their own resources (he wasn't making any claims to land in London or Bristol but in the land of his ancestors). All the western European countries united with Britain (the Anglos) to destroy this suddenly-turned African "bad guy" (until then he was the epitome of how African leaders should be, i.e., "don't mess with the status quo"). He became this "brutal dictator, etc., etc." because he demanded that the former white colonizers live up to the agreement that they had signed onto in order to stop a war that they were about to lose outright, thanks to countries like China and Russia (who had their own interests). Bottom line, while it is the British who created this specific problem, they have since enlisted a solid western European bloc on their side, thus it is a "white/black" issue.

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