African Union Summit To Discuss Post-Election Zimbabwe

June 30 (EIRNS)—Robert Mugabe was the victor in the June 27 elections; his opponent, Morgan Tsvangirai, the candidate of the largest faction of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), withdrew from the Presidential run-off in the week preceding the election, but his name was still on the ballot. Many in the MDC were opposed to his withdrawal, which is widely seen as a move to create a bleak picture of Zimbabwe, and lend credence to the British-led press campaign against Mugabe. British efforts, based on claims that the election was not legitimate, as a way of putting pressure on African countries to remove Mugabe. Today, at the summit of the African Union, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, heads of state of member nations will be taking up the London-centered case against Zimbabwe. African Union (AU) chairperson Jean Ping has firmly requested: "Please give us time to solve it [the Zimbabwe issue] with our heads of state." Mugabe will be present at that summit.

The British and their African lackeys certainly have no intention of letting the Zimbabwe case be settled peacefully. Britain's Africa Minister Mark Malloch Brown told Reuters, "I hope the African neighbors will do whatever it takes to secure [Mugabe's] departure, and a democratic government." Conditions exist to enact "global measures" against Mugabe, he said. Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga is calling on the AU to deploy troops to Zimbabwe to seize control of the government.

There is clearly no agreement within the AU, and several other heads of state and government officials warn that imposing sanctions on Zimbabwe, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.S. President George Bush demand, will simply not work. "I think we need to engage Zimbabwe. The route of sanctions may not be helpful," Kenya's foreign minister said.

In an interview published in the June 29 Financial Times, Tsvangirai said he is proposing that the African Union and the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) act as brokers, to lead negotiations with Mugabe and Zanu-PF party "toward a transitional" period.

British Assassination Threat Against Mugabe

June 26 (EIRNS)—Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe is being stripped of his honorary British knighthood, according to the BBC yesterday. He is the first foreigner to be stripped of the award since Romanian leader Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989, the news agency reported, adding ominously that in the case of Ceausescu this happened "the day before his execution."

EIR has received two reports of assassination plans against Mugabe, so the BBC report should not be dismissed as harmless British musings about what they would like to see happen to Mugabe, in retaliation for his refusal to give in the globalization and free trade schemes of the Anglo-Dutch financial cartel. Before the British-led eight-year economic warfare against the country, Zimbabwe had the second-strongest economy in southern Africa, after South Africa.

Zimbabwe sources report that there is still serious discussion of a unity government after the election.

The media has made much of Tsvangirai having allegedly sought refuge in the Dutch Embassy. However, he has been seen leaving the embassy for activities elsewhere. This has led observers inside and outside Zimbabwe to suspect that he is using the secure communications system of the embassy to communicate with those who are directing his activities.

Indian Opposition to Britain's Destabilization of Zimbabwe

June 26 (EIRNS)—Indian Ambassador to Zimbabwe Venkatesan Vashok's interview with The Herald, the government-run news daily in Harare, on June 24, indicates that the British are running into significant international opposition to their plan for chaos and genocide in Zimbabwe, and across Africa.

Ambassador Vashok said: "India has been supportive of Zimbabwe economically and has helped in the refurbishment of the country's railway network after Independence, as well as building a cotton ginnery and assisting in the energy sector, among other areas. Trade relations between India and Zimbabwe remain cordial, with a government-to-government joint trade commission in place."

Urging Zimbabwe to have closer economic relations with India, Vashok said: "India was also keen to increase trade and investment in Zimbabwe. Indian companies, which are globally present, will also come to Zimbabwe. We already have a few investments by Indian firms...."

On June 25, Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar, the consulting editor of The Economic Times, India's largest financial daily, and brother of India's junior cabinet minister, Mani Shankar Aiyer, wrote that President Robert Mugabe's ineptness has caused hyperinflation and economic disaster. "Yet history is full of economic disasters, and these have never sparked international action to oust the rulers."

Aiyar continued: "The white bias is well understood in Africa—and Asia—and explains why other African rulers have been slow to join Western condemnation of him [Mugabe]. Some have finally condemned him now, but none of them wants military action to topple Mugabe. They know that in the long list of bloodthirsty African dictators, Mugabe does not rank very high. Unlike others, Mugabe has in the past held some perfectly fair elections. Even this time, despite using deplorably violent tactics, he actually allowed himself to be beaten in the first round, something no autocrat in Central Asia or the Middle East would have permitted."

Aiyar added, "There is much to be said for the Westphalian principle of not interfering with the internal affairs of countries, no matter how odious their rulers or practices may be."