Published by the government of Zimbabwe
6 January 2009
Harare — UGANDA has vowed to press the United Nations Security Council to keep hands off Zimbabwe and concentrate on real trouble spots like Somalia, saying problems in Zimbabwe would be best resolved by Sadc as the Arab League blamed "demonic Western imperialism" for the challenges Zimbabwe is facing.
Uganda began a two-year term on the United Nations Security Council, as one of three African non-permanent members, replacing South Africa on January 1.
It is set to assume the presidency of the Security Council in July.
Other African non-permanent members of the Security Council are Libya and Burkina Faso.
Throughout its tenure, South Africa -- along with countries like China, Russia, Libya and Vietnam -- resolutely blocked all efforts by the West to abuse the Security Council.
The West had indicated that it would try and renew its efforts once South Africa left the Security Council, and MDC-T leader, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai was despatched to Uganda to lobby for support, but with Uganda vowing to continue where South Africa left off, the machinations are doomed to fail.
In a recent interview with UN Radio, Uganda's Ambassador to the UN, Mr Francis Butagira, said Zimbabwe did not pose a threat to international peace and security and there was no justification for the West to try and use the UN to rubber-stamp an invasion of the country.
Both Uganda and the Arab League emphasised that they would never endorse military force or any form of illegal regime change in Zimbabwe and reiterated their support for AU and Sadc mediation efforts in the country.
America and Britain have over the past year made several unsuccessful attempts to get the Security Council to endorse action against Zimbabwe in addition to agitating for a military invasion.
Ambassador Butagira, said the organisation should not allow itself to be dragged into Western regime change plots.
He said "unilateralism or flexing muscles has been shown not to work", and the political situation was "best dealt with by the sub-region".
Ambassador Butagira added that the situation did not have an "international dimension and thus does not warrant intervention by the Security Council".
CAJ News on Sunday reported that the Arab League, and Egypt in particular, were highly critical of the role the West had played in fomenting a political stand-off and economic decline in Zimbabwe.
The League said they would never support illegal regime change as advocated for by the West and would not endorse any military action.
A senior Egyptian Foreign Affairs official in Cairo was quoted as saying the situation in Zimbabwe was a "man-made crisis" engineered by "Western demonic imperialism".
The Egyptian official said they would continue to support Sadc and AU initiatives in Zimbabwe.
"We still watch what is going on and believe the powers that be will help bring about a real and lasting solution to the situation facing the country," he said.
He added: "Unfortunately for the people of Zimbabwe, the international community has done little to help resolve the tension in the country."
Late last year, the Arab League said it would issue a substantial response to the Zimbabwe issue sometime in 2009.
Egypt, an influential member of the Arab League, has traditionally refused to be used by the West to attack Zimbabwe.
At the AU Summit in that country's resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh last year, President Mubarak resisted Western pressure to vilify Zimbabwe and walked into the meeting venue side-by-side with President Mugabe.
CAJ News reported that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak could not immediately comment on developments in Zimbabwe as he was locked up in meetings pertaining to Israel's illegal assault of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Observers said the double endorsement of Sadc and AU initiatives by the Arab League and Uganda would add pressure on the opposition MDC-T to co-operate in the formation of the envisaged inclusive Government.
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