Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade wanted President Robert Mugabe to accept the results of the march 2008 elections and respect human rights but at the same time he did not want the West to humiliate him in view of what he had done for his country.
Wade, who was criticised by the West for imposing himself as a mediator on a number of conflicts, believed that putting more public pressure on Mugabe was likely to backfire, and that pushing him into a corner would lead to more violence.
There had already been increasing violence in Zimbabwe long before the announcement of the presidential results which showed that Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai had beaten Mugabe but had not garnered enough votes for an outright victory.
This had therefore necessitated a run-off election between the two leading candidates, Tsvangirai and Mugabe.
Four candidates, including two who stood as independents, Simba Makoni and Langton Towungana, contested the March poll.
Full cable:
Viewing cable 08DAKAR572, SENEGAL AGREES WITH SOUTH AFRICA ON ZIMBABWE
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Reference ID |
Created |
Classification |
Origin |
VZCZCXRO6269
OO RUEHDU RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHRN
DE RUEHDK #0572/01 1371312
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 161312Z MAY 08
FM AMEMBASSY DAKAR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0500
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY PRIORITY
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 0352
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DAKAR 000572
SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT FOR AF/W, AF/S, AND AF/RSA
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/15/2018
SUBJECT: SENEGAL AGREES WITH SOUTH AFRICA ON ZIMBABWE
Classified By: Charge d’Affaires a.i. Kevin Mullally for reasons 1.5 B/
¶D.
¶1. (C) Summary: Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade sent his
Foreign Minister on May 1 to Harare to urge Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe to allow the electoral commission to
release March 29 election results and to accept the outcome.
According to Momar Gueye, the Foreign Ministry’s director of
African and Asian Affairs, President Wade believes that
President Mugabe should be encouraged to respect human rights
and democracy and to accept the results of the March 29
elections but he should not be “humiliated.” Moreover,
applying too much public pressure would likely backfire and
result in more violence. Senegal believes Mugabe’s
acceptance of the need for a run-off is a significant
concession. Senegal and South Africa’s views are largely
covergent, according to Gueye. End summary.
¶2. (C) On May 7, the MFA Director of the African and Asian
Affairs Division Gueye told Political Counselor that Foreign
Minister Cheikh Tidiane Gadio delivered a strong private
message from Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade to President
Mugabe encouraging the government to respect democracy and
human rights. According to Gueye, although Wade respects
Mugabe’s history as an independence freedom fighter, he made
it clear to Mugabe that it is essential that the results of
the March 29 elections be released and that Mugabe accept the
outcome, as was noted in Foreign Ministry press release (a
copy of which was sent to AF/W by email). However, Gueye
emphasized that Wade, who he characterized as a “true
pan-Africanist,” does not want to see Mugabe be humiliated by
the West, given all that he has done. Moreover, Senegal
believes that putting more public pressure on Mugabe is
likely to backfire, and that pushing him into a corner would
lead to more violence.
¶3. (C) Although he acknowledged that Presidents Wade and
Thabo Mbeki of South Africa have had a tense relationship in
the past as a result of Wade taking umbrage at Mbeki’s
mediation efforts in the Ivory Coast, in Senegal’s “back
yard,” Gueye said the two presidents’ views were now largely
convergent. He reported that during Foreign Minister Gadio’s
meeting with President Mbeki on his way back from Zimbabwe
the two sides had agreed that the best way forward was for
all parties concerned to urge both the GOZ and the opposition
to accept the results of the March 29 elections as determine
by the country’s electoral commission.
¶4. () Although Gueye conceded that the long delay betwen
the election and the announcement of the resuts could cause
some observers to question the crediility of outcome, he
emphasized that the Southrn African Development Community
(SADC) had veriied that the election was essentially free
and fir and noted that Senegal had not participated in ny
electoral observation and was therefore not ina position to
judge. Moreover, he questioned what would be the point of
allowing the opposition to take control of the parliament if
President Mugabe intended to overturn the presidential
election result.
¶5. (C) Guey opined that Senegal’s efforts ad the
Senegalese/South African view were vindicated by subsequent
release of the March 29 results by Zimbabwe’s election. He
contended that Mugabe’s acceptance of the need for a run-off
election was a significant concession, given that Mugabe
previously said he would never accept such an outcome. Gueye
said, “This result is “very humiliating for Mugabe. Now we
have to see if (opposition leader Morgan) Tsvigirai will
accept the result.”
Comment
——-
¶6. (C) President Wade clearly sees the Zimbabwe mission of
his foreign minister as an unalloyed success and believes
that it adds to his stature as a pan-Africanist statesman,
hence the press release. As we have noted before, Wade sees
himself as being an African leader of the first rank and
resents what he sees as President Mbeki’s efforts to make
South Africa into the continent’s superpower. It appears
that Wade is returning the favor with Mbeki by helping him to
resolve crisis in South Africa’s “backyard.” However,
President Wade is in over his head. It is clear that the
Senegalese Foreign Ministry knows next to nothing about the
conflict in Zimbabwe beyond what it reads in the press.
Senegal does not have an embassy in Harare and the MFA has in
the past asked for information from Post about the situation
in Zimbabwe. These latest efforts at mediation are only the
DAKAR 00000572 002 OF 002
most recent example of Wade’s desire to be seen as Africa’s
indispensable peace maker. Finally, while Wade no doubt is
sincere in his belief that Africans should handle African
problems, he also no doubt believes that diplomatic “coups”
abroad improve his standing at home as well.
Background
———-
¶7. (U) President Wade announced that he was going to take on
the role of mediator in a press conference (to which he
convoked the entire diplomatic corps) in October of 2007.
During the press conference he was very critical of President
Mbeki’s handling of the crisis in Zimbabwe. Wade said that
he would facilitate an agreement between Mugabe and British
Prime Minister Gordon Brown. President Wade went to Harare
in November 2007 to meet with Mugabe. He attended a state
dinner during which he gave a long address announcing that
the origin of Zimbabwe’s problems was the so-called British
refusal to pay for land reform as agreed at the end of the
independence war. Wade praised Mugabe as an African hero.
Subsequently, during the African Union/European Union
heads-of-state summit, Wade vocally defended Mugabe.
SMITH
(27 VIEWS)
